In 1964, the river was dammed by the Khashm el Girba Dam near Kassala in Sudan to provide irrigation up to the newly built town of Halfa Dughaym in an otherwise fairly arid region and to resettle the Sudanese population driven away by the Aswan High Dam (Sad al-Aali) in Egypt, which flooded 500 km of the Nile Valley in southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
In the late 80s of 19th century he joined the Italian forces that were fighting in Eritrea and Sudan and in 1894 he fought in Kassala.
After being delayed for about a year in Massawa, Rassam at last received permission from the Emperor to enter his realm, but due to rebellions in Tigray was forced to follow a circuitous route taking him to Kassala, then to Metemma, along the western shore of Lake Tana to finally meet with Emperor Tewodros in northern Gojjam.
The city is home to Kassala University, a public university established in 1990 to replace the East University, and an important institution for development in the east of Sudan.
Joining the Sudan Political Service, Skrine served in Khartoum in 1908, in Fung Province from 1909 to 1912, in Dongola from 1913 to 1917 and in Kassala from 1918 to 1922.
The Beni-Amer occupy the borders between much of Eritrea's Barka valley, Tokar, Aqiq, and the Kassala areas of eastern Sudan.