Sudan
Sudan or the Sudan the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea to the east, Ethiopia to the southeast, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, it has a population of 39 million people and occupies a total area of 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it the third-largest country in Africa. Sudan's predominant religion is Islam, its official languages are Arabic and English; the capital is Khartoum, located at the confluence of the White Nile. Since 2011, Sudan is the scene of ongoing military conflict in its regions South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Sudan's history goes back to the Pharaonic period, witnessing the kingdom of Kerma, the subsequent rule of the Egyptian New Kingdom and the rise of the kingdom of Kush, which would in turn control Egypt itself for nearly a century. After the fall of Kush the Nubians formed the three Christian kingdoms of Nobatia and Alodia, with the latter two lasting until around 1500.
Between the 14th and 15th centuries much of Sudan was settled by Arab nomads. From the 16th–19th centuries and eastern Sudan were dominated by the Funj sultanate, while Darfur ruled the west and the Ottomans the far north; this period saw Arabization. From 1820 to 1874 the entirety of Sudan was conquered by the Muhammad Ali dynasty. Between 1881 and 1885 the harsh Egyptian reign was met with a successful revolt led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad, resulting in the establishment of the Caliphate of Omdurman; this state was destroyed in 1898 by the British, who would govern Sudan together with Egypt. The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism and in 1953 Britain granted Sudan self-government. Independence was proclaimed on January 1, 1956. Since independence, Sudan has been ruled by a series of unstable parliamentary governments and military regimes. Under Gaafar Nimeiry, Sudan instituted Islamic law in 1983; this exacerbated the rift between the Islamic north, the seat of the government and the animists and Christians in the south.
Differences in language and political power erupted in a civil war between government forces influenced by the National Islamic Front and the southern rebels, whose most influential faction was the Sudan People's Liberation Army concluding in the independence of South Sudan in 2011. In April 2019, following contentious protests that faced fierce resistance from the Omar al-Bashir regime, the Sudanese military, under the command of Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf, took control of the nation and established a Transitional Military Council; this move dissolved the constitution. The country's place name Sudan is a name given to a geographical region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western Africa to eastern Central Africa; the name derives from the Arabic bilād as-sūdān, or "the lands of the Blacks". The name is one of several toponyms sharing similar etymologies meaning "land of the blacks" or similar meanings, in reference to the dark skin of the inhabitants; the term "Sudanese" had a negative connotation in Sudan due to its association with black African slaves.
The idea of "Sudanese" nationalism goes back to the 1930s and 1940s, when it was popularized by young intellectuals. By the eighth millennium BC, people of a Neolithic culture had settled into a sedentary way of life there in fortified mudbrick villages, where they supplemented hunting and fishing on the Nile with grain gathering and cattle herding. During the fifth millennium BC, migrations from the drying Sahara brought neolithic people into the Nile Valley along with agriculture; the population that resulted from this cultural and genetic mixing developed a social hierarchy over the next centuries which became the Kingdom of Kush at 1700 BC. Anthropological and archaeological research indicate that during the predynastic period Nubia and Nagadan Upper Egypt were ethnically, culturally nearly identical, thus evolved systems of pharaonic kingship by 3300 BC; the Kingdom of Kush was an ancient Nubian state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile and White Nile, the Atbarah River and the Nile River.
It was established after the Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt, centered at Napata in its early phase. After King Kashta invaded Egypt in the eighth century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt for a century before being defeated and driven out by the Assyrians. At the height of their glory, the Kushites conquered an empire that stretched from what is now known as South Kordofan all the way to the Sinai. Pharaoh Piye attempted to expand the empire into the Near East, but was thwarted by the Assyrian king Sargon II; the Kingdom of Kush is mentioned in the Bible as having saved the Israelites from the wrath of the Assyrians, although disease among the besiegers was the main reason for the failure to take the city. The war that took place between Pharaoh Taharqa and the Assyrian king Sennacherib was a decisive event in western history, with the Nubians being defeated in their attempts to gain a foothold in the Near East by Assyria.
Sennacherib's successor Esarhaddon went further, invaded Egypt itself, deposing Taharqa and driving the Nubians from Egypt entirely. Taharqa fled back to his homeland. Egypt became an Assyrian colony.
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was a British firm of Consulting Civil Engineers, based at Queen Anne's Lodge, Queen Anne's Gate and subsequently Telford House, Tothill Street, London, until 1974, when it relocated to Earley House, 427 London Road, Berkshire. The firm had been founded in 1922 by noted Scottish civil engineer, Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb. For the first ten years the business was not rewarding financially although it was engaged on several important projects. Gibb and his colleague, noted Electrical Engineer Charles Hesterman Merz, designed Barking Power Station and the Galloway Hydro Electric development, the first major work of its kind to be linked to the National Grid. Gibb resolved to make his firm the largest of its kind in the country and in time, the firm grew to the point where it was responsible for projects in several parts of the world. By the late 1980s/early 1990s, the firm was organised as a number of specialised departments in Reading, namely Water and Energy and Marine, Structures and Services, Project Management Services and Gibb Architects.
Outside of the United Kingdom, the firm had associated practices including Gibb Africa, Gibb Botswana Gibb Petermuller and Gibb Mauritius. In 1989, the firm merged with the larger American company, which sold Gibb to the US-based Jacobs Engineering Group in 2001. During the 1930s, under the direction of Hugh Beaver, the firm brought together architecture and mechanical services with the founding focus on heavy civil engineering, so was able to offer to industrial clients a complete service. In 1939 Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners designed 3 large Ordnance factories for the Ministry of Supply. Other notable designs were the Kincardine Bridge and Company's brewery at Park Royal, the Captain Cook graving dock at Sydney, the Singapore naval base, supervision of construction of Phoenix units for the Mulberry harbours and an underground factory for aeroplane engines at Corsham. Between 1930 and 1936, the firm designed the modernist power stations of the Galloway hydro-electric power scheme. In 1936, it designed the Kincardine Bridge across the Firth of Forth, Britain's largest road bridge at the time.
In 1937, the firm designed Son Smelting Works in Hull. In 1939, it designed the new Allied Bakeries building, in St Pauls Cray; the Tip Top Bakery in Cray Avenue, now part of the Allied Bakeries division of Associated British Foods. During World War II, the Drakelow Tunnels near Kidderminster were constructed. In 1949, Cliff Quay Power Station in Suffolk was designed. In 1968, Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was joint Consulting Engineer on the Cleddau Bridge in Wales. Other works included the Tripoli International Airport, Devonport Dockyard, Limehouse Link tunnel, Great Man-Made River Project in Libya and several defence and airport projects in the Middle East. In the UK, the firm worked on Waterloo International Railway Terminal between 1988-1993, with Grimshaw Architects and Bovis Construction., Brook House in Park Lane in London, Reading Crown Courts and HMP Banstead, Surrey. The firm undertook a number of important hydro-electric dam projects including the design and supervision of Tongariro Hydroelectric Scheme, Lar Dam, Victoria Dam, the Samanalawewa Dam project, Maentwrog New Dam and Owen Falls Dam, Uganda.
Problems emerged on the Samanalawewa project and two years after its completion, its reservoir still could not be filled because its base was leaking. One Sri Lankan geologist has warned: "Samanalawewa is a write off"; the Victoria Dam in Sri Lanka has not produced the amount of energy envisaged by the designed. In 1997, remedial works were carried out on Owen Falls dam under supervision by the consulting firm. In June 1994, GibbAnglian, a partnership created by Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners and Anglian Water International, won a two-year contract from the United Kingdom Government'sOverseas Development Administration to study the impact of industrial effluent in the city of Tianjin in China; the partnership's task was to investigate the technical, institutional and financial issues involved in reducing industrial wastewater production and improving the quality of effluent discharges. Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb, GBE, CB, FRS, was a noted Scottish Civil Engineer, who founded Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners in 1921 Sir Angus Paton, Civil Engineer, worked on several hydro-electric dam projects across the world and became a partner of the firm in 1955.
Geoffrey Hamilton Coates was non-secretarial Director of Gibb Consultants Limited as a Chartered Engineer Hugh Beaver, was a British Engineer and founder of the Guinness Book of Records. John Britten, Mechanical Engineer, worked on the design of the highway linking the M1 motorway to the M4 motorway. Angus Goodwille, MBE Sir Leopold Halliday Savile, KCB, MICE was a Scottish Civil Engineer who specialised in the design and construction of reservoirs, he served as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers between November 1940 and November 1941. Prof. Paul Back CBE joined 1955 assoc. 1967-70, ptnr 1970-89, co dir and chief tech dir 1989-95.
Egypt
Egypt the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, across the Red Sea lies Saudi Arabia, across the Mediterranean lie Greece and Cyprus, although none share a land border with Egypt. Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. Iconic monuments such as the Giza Necropolis and its Great Sphinx, as well the ruins of Memphis, Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, reflect this legacy and remain a significant focus of scientific and popular interest. Egypt's long and rich cultural heritage is an integral part of its national identity, which has endured, assimilated, various foreign influences, including Greek, Roman, Ottoman Turkish, Nubian.
Egypt was an early and important centre of Christianity, but was Islamised in the seventh century and remains a predominantly Muslim country, albeit with a significant Christian minority. From the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century, Egypt was ruled by foreign imperial powers: The Ottoman Empire and the British Empire. Modern Egypt dates back to 1922, when it gained nominal independence from the British Empire as a monarchy. However, British military occupation of Egypt continued, many Egyptians believed that the monarchy was an instrument of British colonialism. Following the 1952 revolution, Egypt expelled British soldiers and bureaucrats and ended British occupation, nationalized the British-held Suez Canal, exiled King Farouk and his family, declared itself a republic. In 1958 it merged with Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which dissolved in 1961. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Egypt endured social and religious strife and political instability, fighting several armed conflicts with Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, occupying the Gaza Strip intermittently until 1967.
In 1978, Egypt signed the Camp David Accords withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and recognising Israel. The country continues to face challenges, from political unrest, including the recent 2011 revolution and its aftermath, to terrorism and economic underdevelopment. Egypt's current government is a presidential republic headed by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, described by a number of watchdogs as authoritarian. Islam is the official religion of Egypt and Arabic is its official language. With over 95 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa, the Middle East, the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, the fifteenth-most populous in the world; the great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
The sovereign state of Egypt is a transcontinental country considered to be a regional power in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world, a middle power worldwide. Egypt's economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, is projected to become one of the largest in the world in the 21st century. In 2016, Egypt became Africa's second largest economy. Egypt is a founding member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. "Miṣr" is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while "Maṣr" is the local pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew "מִצְרַיִם"; the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian "mi-iṣ-ru" related to miṣru/miṣirru/miṣaru, meaning "border" or "frontier". There is evidence of rock carvings in desert oases. In the 10th millennium BCE, a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishers was replaced by a grain-grinding culture.
Climate changes or overgrazing around 8000 BCE began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the Sahara. Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralised society. By about 6000 BCE, a Neolithic culture rooted in the Nile Valley. During the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt; the Badarian culture and the successor Naqada series are regarded as precursors to dynastic Egypt. The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, predates the Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand years, remaining culturally distinct, but maintaining frequent contact through trade; the earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about 3200 BCE. A unified kingdom was founded c. 3150 BCE
Politics of Uganda
Uganda is a presidential republic, in which the President of Uganda is both head of state and head of government. There is a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly; the system is based on a democratic parliamentary system with universal suffrage for all citizens over 18 of years age. The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Uganda as "hybrid regime" in 2016. In a measure ostensibly designed to reduce sectarian violence, political parties were restricted in their activities from 1986. In the non-party "Movement" system instituted by President Yoweri Museveni, political parties continued to exist but could not campaign in elections or field candidates directly. A constitutional referendum cancelled this 19-year ban on multi-party politics in July 2005. Presidential elections were held in February 2006. Museveni ran against several candidates, of whom the most prominent was the exiled Dr. Kizza Besigye. Museveni was declared the winner.
Besigye alleged fraud, rejected the result. The Supreme Court of Uganda ruled that the election was marred by intimidation, voter disenfranchisement, other irregularities. However, the Court voted 4-3 to uphold the results of the election; the head of state in Uganda is the President, elected by a popular vote to a five-year term. This is Yoweri Museveni, the head of the armed forces; the previous presidential elections were in February 2011, in the election of February 2016, Museveni was elected with 68 percent of the vote. The cabinet is appointed by the president from among the elected legislators; the prime minister, Ruhakana Rugunda, assists the president in the supervision of the cabinet. The Cabinet of Uganda, according to the Constitution of Uganda, "shall consist of the President, the Vice President and such number of Ministers as may appear to the President to be reasonably necessary for the efficient running of the State." On 4 May 2005, the Ugandan Parliament voted to conduct a referendum on the reintroduction of party politics in Uganda.
The referendum was held on July 28, 2005 and Ugandans voted for a return to multi-party politics. The Ugandan judiciary operates as an independent branch of government and consists of magistrate's courts, high courts, courts of appeal, the Supreme Court. Judges for the High Court are appointed by the president. A fight between Ugandan and Libyan presidential guards sparked chaos during a ceremony attended by the heads of state from 11 African nations on March 19, 2008. ACP African Development Bank Commonwealth of Nations East African Development Bank Food and Agriculture Organization Group of 77 Intelsat Intergovernmental Authority on Development International Atomic Energy Agency International Bank for Reconstruction and Development International Civil Aviation Organization International Confederation of Free Trade Unions International Criminal Court International Development Association International Finance Corporation International Fund for Agricultural Development International Labour Organization International Monetary Fund International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement International Olympic Committee International Organization for Migration International Organization for Standardization International Telecommunication Union Interpol Islamic Development Bank Non-Aligned Movement Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Organisation of African Unity Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Permanent Court of Arbitration United Nations United Nations Conference on Trade and Development United Nations Economic Commission for Africa United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Industrial Development Organization Universal Postal Union World Customs Organization World Federation of Trade Unions World Health Organization World Intellectual Property Organization World Meteorological Organization World Tourism Organization World Trade Organization List of government ministries of Uganda Cabinet of Uganda Parliament of Uganda Supreme Court of Uganda Uganda's opposition join forces "Uganda'night commuters' flee rebel brutality" Tripp, Aili Mari, Museveni’s Uganda: Paradoxes of Power in a Hybrid Regime, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2010.
Parliament of Uganda State House of Uganda Constitution of the Republic of Uganda Party Politics in Uganda, 1963-2000, Christina Nyströmee Uganda Government at Curlie
Kiira Hydroelectric Power Station
Kiira Power Station, sometimes spelled Kiyira Power Station, is a hydroelectric power station with an installed capacity of 200 megawatts, in Uganda. The power station is located at Kimaka, a northern suburb of Jinja, Jinja District, in eastern central Uganda 6.5 kilometres northwest of the central business district of Jinja, Uganda's second-largest industrial city. It operates next to the Nalubaale Power Station at the point where the River Nile pours out of Lake Victoria starting its 4,000 miles journey to the Mediterranean Sea; the coordinates of the power station are 0°27'01.0"N, 33°11'08.0"E. In 1993, work started on the Nalubaale Power Station project; the new project is a second powerhouse located about 1 kilometre northeast of the Nalubaale Power Station, built in 1954. A new canal was cut to bring water from Lake Victoria to the new powerhouse. Major construction was completed in 1999; the first power from two units out of the installed five units, came online in 2000. As of 2003, three of the five hydro power generators had been installed.
Installation of the fifth and final turbine was completed in January 2007. Each unit at the extension has a capacity of 42 MW. During official opening ceremonies in 2003, the extension was named the "Kiira Power Station". Design and project management of the extension project was by Canada. In 2002, the government of Uganda, through the Uganda Electricity Generation Company, a 100 percent parastatal, awarded a 20-year operational and maintenance concession to Eskom Uganda Limited, a subsidiary of Eskom, the South African energy company, to cover both Kiira Power Station and nearby Nalubaale Power Station. Eskom sells the electricity it generates to the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, the authorized single buyer. UETCL resells the power to the energy distributor. Njeru List of hydropower stations in Africa List of power stations in Uganda Uganda's Energy Outlook Leading Uganda’s power generat ion efforts
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is electricity produced from hydropower. In 2015, hydropower generated 16.6% of the world's total electricity and 70% of all renewable electricity, was expected to increase about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years. Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 33 percent of global hydropower in 2013. China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 920 TWh of production in 2013, representing 16.9 percent of domestic electricity use. The cost of hydroelectricity is low, making it a competitive source of renewable electricity; the hydro station consumes no water, unlike gas plants. The average cost of electricity from a hydro station larger than 10 megawatts is 3 to 5 U. S. cents per kilowatt hour. With a dam and reservoir it is a flexible source of electricity since the amount produced by the station can be varied up or down rapidly to adapt to changing energy demands. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, in many cases, has a lower output level of greenhouse gases than fossil fuel powered energy plants.
Hydropower has been used since ancient times to perform other tasks. In the mid-1770s, French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published Architecture Hydraulique which described vertical- and horizontal-axis hydraulic machines. By the late 19th century, the electrical generator was developed and could now be coupled with hydraulics; the growing demand for the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well. In 1878 the world's first hydroelectric power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland, England by William Armstrong, it was used to power a single arc lamp in his art gallery. The old Schoelkopf Power Station No. 1 near Niagara Falls in the U. S. side began to produce electricity in 1881. The first Edison hydroelectric power station, the Vulcan Street Plant, began operating September 30, 1882, in Appleton, with an output of about 12.5 kilowatts. By 1886 there were 45 hydroelectric power stations in the U. S. and Canada. By 1889 there were 200 in the U. S. alone. At the beginning of the 20th century, many small hydroelectric power stations were being constructed by commercial companies in mountains near metropolitan areas.
Grenoble, France held the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism with over one million visitors. By 1920 as 40% of the power produced in the United States was hydroelectric, the Federal Power Act was enacted into law; the Act created the Federal Power Commission to regulate hydroelectric power stations on federal land and water. As the power stations became larger, their associated dams developed additional purposes to include flood control and navigation. Federal funding became necessary for large-scale development and federally owned corporations, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bonneville Power Administration were created. Additionally, the Bureau of Reclamation which had begun a series of western U. S. irrigation projects in the early 20th century was now constructing large hydroelectric projects such as the 1928 Hoover Dam. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers was involved in hydroelectric development, completing the Bonneville Dam in 1937 and being recognized by the Flood Control Act of 1936 as the premier federal flood control agency.
Hydroelectric power stations continued to become larger throughout the 20th century. Hydropower was referred to as white coal for its plenty. Hoover Dam's initial 1,345 MW power station was the world's largest hydroelectric power station in 1936; the Itaipu Dam opened in 1984 in South America as the largest, producing 14,000 MW but was surpassed in 2008 by the Three Gorges Dam in China at 22,500 MW. Hydroelectricity would supply some countries, including Norway, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Brazil, with over 85% of their electricity; the United States has over 2,000 hydroelectric power stations that supply 6.4% of its total electrical production output, 49% of its renewable electricity. The technical potential for hydropower development around the world is much greater than the actual production: the percent of potential hydropower capacity that has not been developed is 71% in Europe, 75% in North America, 79% in South America, 95% in Africa, 95% in the Middle East, 82% in Asia-Pacific.
The political realities of new reservoirs in western countries, economic limitations in the third world and the lack of a transmission system in undeveloped areas result in the possibility of developing 25% of the remaining technically exploitable potential before 2050, with the bulk of that being in the Asia-Pacific area. Some countries have developed their hydropower potential and have little room for growth: Switzerland produces 88% of its potential and Mexico 80%. Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator; the power extracted from the water depends on the volume and on the difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height difference is called the head. A large pipe delivers water from the reservoir to the turbine; this method produces electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water between reservoirs at different elevations. At times of low electrical demand, the excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the higher reservoir.
When the demand becomes greater, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine. Pumped-storage schemes provide the most commercially important means of large-scale grid energy storage and improve the daily capacity factor of the generation system. Pumped storag
