Guide Note

Up to 70,000 Nubians inhabiting Northern Sudan will be displaced from their homes when the Merowe Dam becomes operational in 2008. Tensions between Nubian demonstrators and government forces increased in December 2006 when Nubians realized that Chinese workers and machinery were being imported to begin construction on another dam at Kajbar.

Fast Facts

Two organizations, Rescue Nubia and the Oppose Kajbar Committee, were formed by Nubians opposed to the dams
The International Appeal to Rescue Nubia And to stop Building the Kajbar Dam petition was drawn up in May of 2007
Dams are being constructed to address energy shortages in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum
Nubians maintain that the government refuses to inform them about the plans and consequences of the dams
Protests against the dams have been met with violent opposition
Over 50,000 Nubians were displaced upon completion of the Aswan Dam in the 1960s

Quote

"Together with the Aswan High Dam, the two new dams will inundate almost the whole of Nubia. Hundreds of thousands of Nubians in the region itself and living elsewhere will lose their homeland. That will mean the extinction of the Nubians as a distinct group with their own language and cultural heritage."—Nubian activist Su'd Ibrahim Ahmed ¹

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View Note History

Unrest in Nubia

The Mahalo Top 7

RN Afrique: Controversial dam plans in Nubia (Jul 7, 2007)
Reuters: The far north of Sudan: The next conflict? (Aug 12, 2007)
Official Site: Rescue Nubia and Kajbar Fact Sheet
Sudan Tribune: UN expert urges sudan to suspend Merowe, Kajbar dam projects (Aug 31, 2007)
National Geographic News: Four Killed Over Nile Dam Project That Threatens Nubian Towns (Jun 15, 2007)
Petition Online: Stop Building the Kajbar Dam Petition
Nubia Net: Nubia Q and A

Unrest in Nubia News

The RN Afrique link below is perhaps the best way into this story. It gives a clear outline of the current tension and suggests causes. Essentially, the recent conflict stems from the Sudanese government's plan to build a dam that would displace thousands of residents in Nubia. Demonstrations in March, April and June provoked an increasingly aggressive response from government forces - including several fatalities.
SudanTribune: UN expert urges sudan to suspend Merowe, Kajbar dam projects (Aug 31, 2007)
Reuters: The far north of Sudan: The next conflict? (Aug 12, 2007)
National Geographic News: Four Killed Over Nile Dam Project That Threatens Nubian Towns (Jun 15, 2007)
RN Afrique: Controversial dam plans in Nubia (Jul 7, 2007)

Unrest in Nubia Background

The Merowe Dam, south of Nubia, was started in 2003 and is due to be finished 2008. It will submerge the land of around 70,000 people. In the 1960s, Egypt's construction of the Aswan Dam caused 50,000 Nubians to be evacuated from a region that had been theirs for thousands of years.
Nubia Net: Nubia Q and A
Wikipedia: Kush and Nubians
International Crisis Group: A Strategy for Comprehensive Peace in Sudan (Jul 26, 2007)

Dams in the Nubia Region

News From Africa: Dam could provoke water wars (2002)
Google Maps: Aswan Dam and Vicinity
Denver University: The Aswan Dam
Wikipedia: Aswan Dam

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