Fire destroys another palm plantation in northern Sudan

On Wednesday, a huge fire broke out in Halfa locality in the Northern state.

“The fire that erupted at the Tabaj village plantation in Abri destroyed more than 100 palm trees before the people managed to distinguish it,” Adham Abdelrahman, a Nubian activist, told Radio Dabanga.

This was the third time this year that a fire broke out in the palm plantation, the source said. “The people in the area suspect arson. As the government is planning to build the Dal, Kajbar, and El Shireik hydro dams in the area, they are trying to eliminate the palm trees to ensure a low compensation for the palm owners.

In August this year, more than 1,000 date palms were devoured by fire in El Debba locality. In July, large tracts of orchards burned to the ground after a huge fire broke out on Dafi island, between Dongola and Wadi Halfa. “The government did not lift a finger to intervene,” a source told this station at the time.

After passing a framework agreement with Saudi Arabia in January this year, the government announced the construction of the Kajbar, Dal, and El Shireik dams at the Nile in northern Sudan.

The Association of Nubians in northern Sudan warned that the construction of the two dams will obliterate more than 7,000 years of Nubian civilisation, and called for a large campaign in Sudan and abroad to prevent the dams.  

Protests against the building of the dams have been suppressed, and a number of activists have been detained. Several Nubians have warned of the transformation of the region into ‘another Darfur’ if the government continues with the construction of the dams.

According to International Rivers Organisation the Kajbar Dam will displace more than 10,000 people and submerge an estimated 500 archaeological sites. The Dal Dam, on the second cataract, will displace at least 5,000 people.