Akobo River
River in the border between Ethiopia and South Sudan
title: "Akobo River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["international-rivers-of-africa", "rivers-of-ethiopia", "rivers-of-south-sudan", "sobat-river", "ethiopia–south-sudan-border", "ethiopian-highlands", "gambela-region", "jonglei-state", "greater-upper-nile", "border-rivers"] description: "River in the border between Ethiopia and South Sudan" topic_path: "general/international-rivers-of-africa" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akobo_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary River in the border between Ethiopia and South Sudan ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Akobo River |
| image | Akobo River Bridge, Dimma (12537058884).jpg |
| image_caption | Akobo River Bridge |
| pushpin_map | South Sudan |
| pushpin_map_caption | Location of mouth |
| source1_coordinates | |
| source1_elevation | 1901 m |
| mouth | Pibor River |
| mouth_location | Akobo, South Sudan |
| mouth_coordinates | |
| mouth_elevation | 408 m |
| subdivision_type1 | Countries |
| subdivision_name1 | |
| length | 434 km |
| discharge1_avg | 106.4 m3/s |
| basin_size | 6250 km2 |
| discharge1_location | Mouth |
| discharge1_min | 22.6 m3/s |
| discharge1_max | 255 m3/s |
| river_system | Nile |
| progression | Pibor → Sobat → White Nile → Nile → Mediterranean Sea |
| basin_population | 13,500 |
| tributaries_left | Neubari River, Ajuba River, Kaia River |
| tributaries_right | Cechi River, Chiarini River, Owag |
| :: |
| name = Akobo River | image = Akobo River Bridge, Dimma (12537058884).jpg | image_size = | image_caption = Akobo River Bridge | pushpin_map = South Sudan | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption = Location of mouth | pushpin_map_alt = | source1 = | source1_location = | source1_coordinates = | source1_elevation = 1901 m | mouth = Pibor River | mouth_location = Akobo, South Sudan | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = 408 m | subdivision_type1 = Countries | subdivision_name1 = | length = 434 km | discharge1_avg = 106.4 m3/s | basin_size = 6250 km2 | discharge1_location = Mouth | discharge1_min = 22.6 m3/s | discharge1_max = 255 m3/s | river_system = Nile | progression = Pibor → Sobat → White Nile → Nile → Mediterranean Sea | basin_population = 13,500 | tributaries_left = Neubari River, Ajuba River, Kaia River | tributaries_right = Cechi River, Chiarini River, Owag
The Akobo River is a river on the border between South Sudan and Ethiopia. From its source in the Ethiopian Highlands near Mizan Teferi it flows west for 434 km to join the Pibor River. The Pibor flows into the Sobat River, which in turn empties into the White Nile.
The tributaries of the Akobo river include the Cechi, the Chiarini, and the Owag, on the right or Ethiopian side; and the Neubari, Ajuba and Kaia on the left or South Sudanese side.
History
The boundary between Sudan and Ethiopia was defined for the region near the Akobo River in 1899, by Major H.H. Austin and Major Charles W. Gwynn of the British Royal Engineers. They had no knowledge of the land, its inhabitants, or their languages, and were short on supplies. Rather than defining a line based on ethnic groups and traditional territories, essentially along the escarpment that separates the highlands and the plains, Majors Austin and Gwynn simply proposed drawing the line down the middle of the Akobo River and parts of the Pibor River and Baro River. This boundary was consummated in the Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1902, resulting in an area in the Ethiopian Gambela Region called the Baro Salient. | last = Collins | first = Robert O. | title = The Nile | year = 2002 | publisher = Yale University Press | isbn = 0-300-09764-6 | pages = 76, 210 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cql8L7mF11MC/page/76
The Baro Salient is more closely connected to South Sudan than Ethiopia, both in terms of natural features and people. The Baro Salient was used as a sanctuary by Sudanese insurgents during the country's long civil wars. It was difficult for Sudan to exert authority over a region that is part of Ethiopia, and Ethiopia was reluctant to police this remote region and become involved in the politics of Sudan's internal conflicts.
The Akobo has been the subject of several mining surveys. In 1939, engineers of Companies Mineralia Ethiopia (COMINA) carried out exploration of the Akobo and its tributaries. North-flowing tributaries appeared to be more promising than the south-flowing ones. Values up to 10 grams of gold per cubic meter were found in Chama creek, and the possible average value could be 0.7 g per cubic meter. In the period 1952–1954 the Ministry of Mines employed as many as 120 miners at a time. They produced an average of 1.66 grams of gold per day.
References
References
- Lehner, Bernhard. (2008-03-04). "New Global Hydrography Derived From Spaceborne Elevation Data". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union.
- Liu, L., Cao, X., Li, S., & Jie, N. (2023). GlobPOP: A 31-year (1990-2020) global gridded population dataset generated by cluster analysis and statistical learning (1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10088105
- (1997). "Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary". [[Merriam-Webster]].
- Shinn, David H.. (2004). "Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia". Scarecrow Press.
- [http://www.nai.uu.se/library/resources/dossiers/local_history_of_ethiopia/A/ORTAK.pdf "Local History in Ethiopia"] {{Webarchive. link. (2007-06-16 (pdf) The [[Nordic Africa Institute]] website (accessed 1 May 2008))
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