But East Africa obviously could not allow such a country to appear beside it. Still, that was not entirely certain. After all, Cuba had managed to grow beside the United States, and Egypt's relationship with the Soviet Union in its previous life had been fairly close. Moreover, to the Russians, Egypt was clearly more worth courting than Cuba.
Quite a few countries in the world coveted the Suez Canal, but Egypt was not an issue East Africa needed to consider at present. Egypt was still a British colony, and in fact, if possible, East Africa would love nothing more than to see the Suez Canal, this vital Egyptian passageway, rendered useless.
That way, if East Africa intercepted the river waters upstream while the Suez Canal was also crippled, Egypt would have little chance of achieving population growth according to the pattern of its previous life.
East Africa could accomplish the former, but the latter was unlikely. The Suez Canal had already become the great artery of Eurasian trade. It did not concern Egypt alone, but linked all three continents of Eurasia and Africa.
Egyptian citizens were not completely oblivious to East Africa's series of actions along the upper Nile River.
During the construction of Xingguo Reservoir in the Great Lakes Region alone, Egyptians had noticed that the Nile River's flow had weakened somewhat. However, this change was not yet enough to have much impact on Egypt.
Khartoum.
As the capital of Sudan in its previous life, Khartoum was likewise one of Egypt's major cities now. Relying on the Gezira Plain and the Nile River, Khartoum possessed an excellent foundation for agricultural development.
Upstream from the Gezira Plain lay East Africa's Jezira City. However, trade between Jezira City and Khartoum was not active. This was not because East Africa deliberately