Protest against Sudan dam enters third week

A sit-in by the Manasir community in Al Damar, the capital of Sudan's River Nile State, has entered its third week.

The Manasir who come from Merowe in northern Sudan, are one of the ethnic groups claiming to have been disadvantaged by the multi-billion dollar Merowe Hydropower Dam project.

Hundreds of ethnic Manasir have been camping at the Tahrir Square in Al Damer and many more are joining the protests from other states. 

International Rivers, a global organisation that has been reporting on the ecological and human cost of the Merowe Dam, estimates that at least 70,000 people were displaced as a result of the project.

In 2008, 22 villages inhabited by the Manasir were flooded, forcing people out of their homes.

In a statement by the committee responsible for organising the protests and subsequent sit-in since November 20, the Manasir demanded compensation for the ignored deal between them and the government.

Mr Al Rashed Al Affendi, the spokesperson of the Manasir executive committee, stated that they would not stop protesting just because the government promised to resolve their problems, insisting they wanted to see proof.

The State minister for Finance in River Nile State has admitted that there had been a delay in solving the Manasir case that had led to complications, but he criticised the protest. 

National parties have asked the government to meet the demands of the protestors and look into the killings of protestors in Kajbar and Amri, where the Kajbar and Dal dams are set to be built. 

The Merowe dam was built on the fourth cataract of the Nile between 2003 and 2009.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has filed a lawsuit against Lahmeyer International, a German consultancy, for human rights abuses.