The Face of Truth | Ibrahim Shaglawi Irrigation Documents and the Battle of Memory..

Irrigation maps and their archives have long been more than data: they are a record of history, a tool for planning, and a negotiating instrument in the face of regional and domestic crises. Their loss represents a direct threat to the ability to manage many strategic files related to water resources, their management, and control. It also obscures the most important scientific and practical experiences that our country possesses in the field of water management.

When, during the war, the loss of the Ministry of Irrigation’s archive was announced, it came as a shock to many observers, as if it were a collapse at the very core of the state. At that time, the discussion was not about facilities or water canals, but about disabling the “mind of a ministry” that had long controlled one of the most sensitive and strategic resources in our country, given the regional and international challenges related to water resources, their management, and their future.

The loss of documents was an undermining of the state’s ability to carry out sound agricultural planning, secure water rights, and safeguard its national interests in the face of regional issues where pressures are increasing, especially with the ongoing crisis of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the threats of changing water flows. This indicated a weakening of the Sudanese state’s negotiating position in files related to water management, irrigation, and operation.

However, the scene witnessed a remarkable shift yesterday, when the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Professor Essam Qureshi, during his inspection visit to Al Jazirah State in preparation for the 2026 summer season, announced the success of the ministry in recovering 90% of the archived maps and documents related to the Gezira Scheme, which had been subjected to systematic looting and destruction by the Rapid Support Forces militia during the war.

In the same context, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Irrigation, Engineer Daw Al-Bayt Abdulrahman, explained that what had been recovered amounts to about 35,000 maps out of 40,000 documents, representing an engineering and agricultural legacy extending for nearly one hundred years. He stressed that the retrieval of these files would not have been possible without the early initiation of electronic archiving since 2008 outside the ministry’s premises, which preserved a significant part of the operational memory from loss.

Politically, this event carries two parallel dimensions. The first highlights the nature of the war in Sudan, which was not limited to controlling land or resources, but extended to targeting the institutional mind of the ministry and its memory. Targeting the archive means disabling the ability to plan and initiate, and turning the state into a recipient of circumstances rather than an active shaper of them. The second dimension is a lesson in the importance of state protection: previous decisions on digital archiving, despite their limitations at the time, were sufficient to save an essential part of the memory, reflecting an early awareness of the importance of archiving as part of national sovereignty.

Nevertheless, the recovery should not be the end of the story, but rather the beginning of a new phase that requires rethinking the concept of protecting documents and all archives. The lessons are clear: a state that neglects the memory of its institutions risks losing its most effective tools in managing resources, reconstruction, and confronting regional challenges.

Therefore, the archive must be transformed into an integrated digital system: distributed, technically secured, directly linked to decision-making centers, and capable of continuous updating and analysis. In addition, integrating artificial intelligence in classifying and analyzing maps and historical data can transform the archive from merely a record of the past into a strategic platform for decision-making and future planning.

At the level of post-war reconstruction, documents become an effective tool for developing work. The Gezira Scheme, which represents one of the most important agricultural and hydrological projects in Sudan, today needs to draw upon these maps to identify maintenance and rehabilitation sites, improve the efficiency of canal operations, and ensure a balanced distribution of water that takes into account the new reality.

 The maps must also serve as a scientific basis to avoid errors and guide agricultural and technological investment.

It is known that a state that possesses accurate information about the history of water use, distribution, management, and the mistakes and successes of the past becomes in a stronger negotiating position, capable of defending its rights in a scientific and well-considered manner.

The history of the Gezira Scheme, therefore, is not merely an engineering record, but a reference for rebuilding the state after the war. Recovering the documents is a step toward restoring the ability to initiate and make decisions, and reclaiming the mind of the state in one of the most dangerous arenas of internal and regional conflict alike.

In light of the transformations we are experiencing, the role of the archive becomes more strategic, as it connects historical experience with the need to manage resources efficiently in the future, and reproduces sovereignty not only over land, but over knowledge.

According to #Face_of_Truth, between the moment of losing the documents and their recovery, the contours of the new state are defined. Either the recovery is read as a victory over war and chaos, or it is understood as an opportunity to rebuild the state on a new foundation: one that realizes that control over knowledge, and the ability to manage it, is the essence of sovereignty, and that those who protect their memory well, also write their future well.

Stay well and healthy.

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

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