Northern Sudanese youth call for Merowe dam compensation

The El Manaseer Youth and Students Association has threatened to cut off “all forms of negotiations with the government” if the demands of the people displaced by the Merowe Dam are not implemented.

The Merowe Dam, also known as the Hamadab Dam, in Sudan’s Northern State was officially launched in 2010. It doubled Sudan’s electricity generation capacity but displaced more than 50,000 people, most of them of the El Manaseer tribe, from the Nile Valley to the area of Emre in Northern State and arid desert places in El Makabarab in the neighbouring River Nile state.

Protests against the construction of the dam, and later for compensation, have been violently suppressed.

“The government promised us compensation for the confiscation of our homes and farms, yet we have not received anything so far,” a member of the Association told Radio Dabanga.

In a statement, the Association demanded the connection of the areas with roads, electricity, and communication networks, the completion of the agricultural projects, a stop of investment activities, and the election of a new local council.

It accused “some executive officials of conspiring against the displaced El Manaseer and obstructing the implementation of their demands”.

In 2015, the El Manaseer staged a number of protests to demand the cancellation of a government committee’s decision not to pay compensation for their losses.

“We are all fed up with the delay by the Sudanese government in meeting its obligations concerning the project road map, completion of land surveys, settlement on arbitration cases, and the rest of the compensation for the properties lost by the building of the dam,” a member of the Merowe Dam Victims Association told this station in early 2015.