A Massive Oasis Could Ease Suffering in Darfur

In addition to the mega lake he has discovered, El Baz believes there are many other sites beneath the desert that have the potential to be drilled for water.

"This whole place is water laden," he said, despite its arid appearance.

We accompanied El Baz on his first site visit to Sudan, where he met with regional leaders and traveled hundreds of miles to see and feel the sand and select sites for immediate drilling.

"If you want water in the desert go to the place that is the driest and where there are the most sand dunes," he explained of his method. "The largest accumulation of sand is where you will find water underneath."

And sure enough, even in the driest of places, it became clear that water had once flowed through these desert plains. Even though water had not been at this site for over 200 years, we found a shell lying in the sand. Surprising discoveries like these are exciting for El Baz because they are proof that there is water here as he has predicted.

El Baz has presented his findings to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, the President of Sudan and the Government of Egypt. All have agreed to commit funds to drill wells.

But there is concern about how the Sudanese Government, in Khartoum, will control the water once it is brought to the surface.

"If this water resource is used as a way of rewarding Khartoum's friends, punishing its enemies, then that water will be a source of conflict and not a source of peace," says Alex De Waal, a Fellow at Harvard's Global Equity Initiative.

El Baz firmly believes that more water will help tame, not enflame, the violence here. "And the problems will dissipate slowly but surely."

Once all the preliminary testing is taken care of, drilling into the mega- lake should begin late this year. El Baz's dream is that enough money will be raised to drill 1,000 wells, creating enough water to go around and alleviating the struggle for resources which has caused so much pain.

"We have an opportunity to put science in the service of humanity. This is helping to resolve a humanitarian crisis, this is a greater cause," he says. "[We can] end a lot of suffering."