Egypt's National Center for Translation awarded the Refa'a al-Tahtawy Prize for Translation to Tawfik Ali Mansour (b. 1931) on Tuesday, for his translation of “Nahr al-Nil” (The Nile: Sharing a Scarce Resource). As the center's most prestigious prize, now in its third year, translators in earlier stages of their careers have again been sidelined from the LE100,000 award. Named after the leading 19th century intellectual who introduced European culture to Egypt through translation, the Refa'a al-Tahtawy Prize for Translation was established in 2009 to honor a translator from the National Center for Translation, for his work on a particular text. Besheer al-Sebaee received the award in 2010 for his translation of Henry Lawrence's encyclopedic work "The Palestinian Cause"; and in 2009, the award went to Mostafa Labib for translating "The Philosophy of the Kalam” by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Mansour's translation of the “The Nile River" competed with 10 other shortlisted books. "It was so hard to choose between all the really qualified translators and their valuable books, to the extent that we were about to divide the prize [among them]," said Faisal Younis, the head of the National Center for Translation, during the award ceremony. In addition to the quality of the translation, Mansour's translation seems to have been chosen for the relevance of its topic. With five Nile Basin member countries signing the Entebbe agreement in 2010, and the accedence of Burundi in March, talks are underway to renegotiate Egypt and Sudan's historical right to Nile water, which was part of the 1959 Nile water bilateral agreement signed with Sudan. The translated book comprises a selection of research papers about managing the Nile's water, and investigates economic and legal issues at stake. It was first published in 1994 by Cambridge University Press. "I am honored to introduce such a useful book to people, to help better utilize our Nile water recourses,” said Mansour, while accepting the prize. “The Nile River is now the concern of all those who drink its water." Mansour is a military researcher and translator. He did graduate studies in military and strategic sciences, and has a PhD in English literature. He has translated more than 60 books to date. Mansour also expressed his hopes for a better Egypt post-revolution. "I hope that Egypt will rise up and enjoy luxury and illumination under the leadership of our loyal armed forces, which I consider myself part of," he told the audience at the award ceremony.
