Officials forced to leave Abu Hamed in Sudan

Angry citizens forced officials of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to leave the village of El Fada in the Northern State on Tuesday. El Fada houses many villagers affected by the construction of the Merowe dam in 2009. The people prevented the officials from addressing a regional NCP party meeting, and forced the Northern State Minister of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Abu Hamed locality to leave the area. They chanted slogans demanding clean drinking water, electricity, and agricultural support services for El Fada village, located north of Abu Hamed, a protester from the area told Radio Dabanga. “Between 2003 and 2009, the Manasir tribal community incurred severe losses of properties due to the construction of the Merowe dam. Their homelands were located around the Fourth Cataract of the River Nile, about 350km north of Khartoum,” the protester explained. “Thousands were deported to the areas of El Fada, and El Makarab, south of El Damer. “From the start, the farmers in El Fada were facing large problems with the agricultural project they were compensated with, because of the shortage of water during all seasons. The government has not kept its promises about the compensation,” he stated. File photo: Venue of protesters in El Manasir, Northern State, against the construction of the Merowe dam