It s estimated that the 110 square kilometer Kajbar Dam on the Nile River will flood 90 villages, displace 10,000 people, and destroy 500 archeological sites. After plans for the dam were announced, peaceful protests by the Nubian population in the area in 2007 were cracked down on by security forces. Four people were killed and at least 20 injured in action condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Sudan. In 2010, the Sudanese government awarded a $705 million, five-year contract to build the Kajbar Dam to the Chinese company Sinohydro, the worlds largest hydropower contractor [1]. Finance still has to be sought, possibly from Chinas Exim Bank. There has been a lack of consultation around the project and local communities say they have never seen the EIA done for the project. The Nubian population fear that construction will lead to displacement and extinction of their language and culture as they could be relocated hundreds of kilometers away from their main source of livelihood - and see the project as a form of ethnic cleansing [2,3]. It follows decades of displacement caused first by the Aswan Dam and more recently the Merowe Dam. The planned Kajbar dam follows the completion of the $2billion Merowe Dam on the Nile and is part of plans for two further dams. |