Egypt's ambassador to South Sudan, Hazem Mamdouh Fouzi, South Sudan's Water Resources and Irrigation Minister James Mawut Makouac and several South Sudan officials open water taps during the inauguration ceremony. Photo courtesy of Egyptian cabinet.
Dr Nader El-Masry, head of the Central Administration for International Cooperation and Agreements at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, said each station serves more than 3,000 people, primarily in rural areas.
The projects form part of Egypt’s efforts to help South Sudan achieve the UN’s sixth Sustainable Development Goal, which seeks to ensure universal access to clean water and sanitation, El-Masry said in a phone interview with Al-Shams 2 television.
He stated that the ministry represents the Egyptian government in water cooperation with South Sudan and has implemented several development projects across the country.
These include the first phase of a project to clear floating vegetation and weeds from the 90-kilometre Bahr El-Ghazal waterway. The completed phase covered a 30-kilometre stretch measuring 50 metres in width.
“The project received a very positive response at both the popular and official levels in South Sudan,” El-Masry said.
He noted that the project has improved local living and health conditions, helped protect the environment, and strengthened flood-control efforts in the Bahr El-Ghazal region.
El-Masry said Egypt has constructed two rainwater-harvesting dams in Warrap State, at Tonj and Gogrial, in 2025 with a storage capacity of 30,000 cubic metres each. The dams collect rainfall during the wet season for drinking, household use, and livestock during dry periods.
Egypt's water cooperation with South Sudan operates under a technical and development agreement signed in November 2014 and overseen by a joint technical committee.
Egypt has also built two river piers in Wau and Kuajok to connect communities by water and installed three stations at Nimule, Bor, and Mongalla to measure water levels and flows along the Bahr El-Jebel.
The monitoring stations, which are jointly operated by the two countries, include drinking water facilities serving nearby communities. The programme also covers a water-quality laboratory, hydrological monitoring, flood forecasting and early-warning capabilities, and training for South Sudanese water specialists.
The wider Egyptian programme includes the SOMBA groundwater station in Luri Payam, which was inaugurated on Sunday by Egyptian Ambassador to South Sudan Hazem Mamdouh Fouzi and South Sudanese Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation James Mawut Makouac.
Funded by Egypt, the station is part of a series of development projects aimed at expanding access to safe drinking water across South Sudan, particularly in underserved rural communities.
In Unity State, Egypt financed machinery and technical work to clear aquatic weeds and other obstructions from the Bahr El-Ghazal waterway.
The project has reopened stretches of the river to boats, facilitated fishing and movement between communities, improved water circulation, and reduced flooding that had threatened homes, livestock, and surrounding land.
The first 30-kilometre phase has now been completed, following its inauguration in Bentiu in June 2024.
Earlier cooperation also included six groundwater facilities around Juba and seven inside the capital, while the eight most recently added stations were distributed between Lobonok and Jonglei.
Egypt and South Sudan have also examined longer-term projects, including the proposed multipurpose Wau Dam on the Siwi River, designed to generate 10.4 megawatts of electricity, provide drinking water to about 500,000 people, and support supplementary irrigation for up to 40,000 feddans. However, the project remains at the study stage.
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