10 camels compete to drink water out of one bucket near Eid El Nabak, North Darfur, Sudan.
Credit: Derk Segaar/IRIN | |
The Merowe/Hamadab dam being built on the River Nile in northern Sudan is the largest hydropower project under construction in Africa, but observers have warned that the venture, which is expected to displace 50,000 people from the fertile Nile valley to arid locations in the Nubian Desert, might lead to community violence.
Currently, most communities - on a very narrow stretch along the Nile -cultivate date palms as their main source of revenue and grow crops for their own consumption. The 67m-high Merowe dam, once completed in 2008-2009, will create a 200km-long reservoir and flood an area of 476sqkm. It will have the capacity to produce 1,250 megawatts of power, roughly doubling Sudan's current power-generating capacity.
"It is clear that there is a great need for electricity generation in Sudan, and the affected residents in the area acknowledge that," said an observer who has been closely following the project.
The Sudanese government has offered the affected families cash compensation for lost assets, a new house, land at resettlement sites and free utility services for two years after resettlement.
Since June 2003, about 10,000 affected people have been resettled from the Nile Valley to the El Multaga resettlement site in the Nubian Desert. Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid, the Sudanese minister of humanitarian affairs, told IRIN in an earlier interview: "I think this is one of the best-organised projects with the best-organised response for those that have been affected.
"I have been there to see their places. They have proper houses, they have proper facilities, they have farms, everything. And even it is better than the old villages," Hamid said. "The have been compensated generously."
Tensions have risen, however, after a number of communities complained about the quality of the resettlement areas and refused to relocate. Whereas the communities demand to be resettled around the new reservoir, the dam authority insists on resettling the remaining people in the Bayouda Desert. Affected communities allege that the dam authority has sold their land to wealthy Arab investors.
As a result, about 40,000 people - predominantly members of the Manasir and Amri communities – are still holding out in the Nile Valley while the dam construction progresses.
Water level rises
Despite the obvious advantages for the Sudanese economy as a whole and a large resettlement and compensation programme, relations between the authorities and the affected residents have grown increasingly tense, and violence has erupted on various occasions.
An International Rivers Network (IRN)/Corner House report on the environmental impact of the dam said the soil at the resettlement site was so poor the farmers could not grow produce to sell on the market.
"Those that have been resettled in El Multaga simply can't make a livelihood," said Peter Bosshard, IRN policy director. "The land is desert, and the soils are extremely unproductive. The only crops they can produce there are fodder crops of low quality, which don't generate enough income."
After meeting with the affected communities and visiting El Multaga, the two organisations said most of the free services, such as water, electricity and fertiliser, were not in place.
When asked about people who complained that they had not received the compensation and free services they had been promised, Hamid said these measures had been provided for in the compensation programme.
Children collecting water from a puddle in Aweil Norh, Bahr el Ghazal, Sudan. The Sudanese government has promised compensation to families who are affected by the Merowe/Hamadab dam, although many have not received anything.
Credit: Derk Segaar/IRIN |
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"They [free services and compensation] will come, but they will come later. They will come in phases. Some groups in the opposition want to use it as a political issue," the minister said. "All the problems now are with those who are very far from the dam, and they will be affected later on, in 2007. They think that they have to get the same things as those who are in the direct site of the dam."
Water levels rose unexpectedly on 7 August, and on 12 August, severe flooding in the Amri area reportedly forced up to 2,723 households to abandon their homes.
Some observers claimed the flooding was a natural occurrence and a result of the rising Nile waters, but Bosshard stressed that the flooding was localised and in the direct vicinity of the dam. "I can't imagine there were natural causes," he said.
"We heard both versions of the story, but we weren't in a position to establish how the flooding happened. But the fact of the matter is that people have been affected," said Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).
An UNMIS humanitarian mission that tried to visit the affected area and assess the damage on 14 August was prevented from entering the Amri area by Sudanese authorities. "We are discussing the issue with the authorities right now," Achouri said.
"The dam authority has refused relief workers and press access to the area," a local source said. "It is not known if some people died under the collapsing houses or not. However, the denial of access reasserts the widely circulating suspicions that some people may have died and the dam authority is trying to conceal the extent of the disaster."
History of violence
The Amri people represent 25 percent of the communities that will be affected by the Merowe Dam and have been extremely resistant to being moved to resettlement sites outside of their traditional lands.
In November 2002, violence erupted in the Amri area after dam authorities refused to recognise the elected committee representing the communities. Further unrest followed attempts by the dam authorities to conduct a socioeconomic survey against the wishes of the affected communities.
In April 2006, special forces, reportedly linked to the dam authorities, opened fire on a peaceful gathering of villagers who were meeting to discuss the planned survey, killing three people and injuring 47. According to witnesses of the shooting, the armed men opened fire without warning on the school where the meeting was taking place, using 16 vehicles equipped with heavy artillery and machine guns.
The April shootings led to negotiations between the Amri and a ministerial committee, headed by Bakri Hasan Salih, an advisor to the President of Sudan, Umar al-Bashir. They reached an agreement in early May, under which the Sudanese government undertook to look into the communities' grievances, while the affected people resolved to allow the socioeconomic survey to take place.
The results of the survey, which is being used by the authorities to set compensation levels, have provoked further outrage among the communities. Despite Sudanese law requiring that the loss of land that has been farmed for 10 years or more be compensated, the dam authorities have refused to compensate land that has been farmed for fewer than 20 years. No - or minimal - compensation will be paid for the loss of fruit-bearing trees, such as mango and lemon, or for fodder crops.
On the basis of the survey, two-thirds of the affected people will be ineligible for any compensation, IRN estimated.
Although the authorities had intended to move the Amri to Wadi Al Mugadam by the end of December 2005, the resettlement site is not ready and insufficient land is available to meet the legal resettlement entitlements of the affected communities. Following the August flooding, the communities are accusing the authorities of breaching the May agreement with the high ministerial committee.
The villagers have made it clear that no official will be allowed to enter the Amri area. An armed group - the Amri Martyrs Front - has been established to defend the people against anticipated attacks by the dam militia. "If the dam authorities insist on going ahead with their plans to move the people forcibly, a violent clash appears inevitable," an observer said.
Impacts of the dam
Some people in the Amri area of Sudan have refused to move to the new settlements. Tensions have increased between the government and the local communities, and violence has occurred in several places.
Credit: Derk Segaar/IRIN |
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The IRN/Corner House report found that once completed, the dam was likely to cause "sedimentation of the reservoir due to massive erosion, evaporation from the reservoir and infestation of the reservoir by water hyacinths.
It could also lead to "massive daily fluctuations of the water level downstream of the dam, with corresponding impacts on downstream agriculture and the spread of waterborne diseases."
In addition, the report said, the reservoir would inundate an area rich in history and antiquities dating back 5,000 years, "from the time of the ancient Nubian civilisation that preceded Pharaonic Egypt."
According to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, however, the project was one of the most important projects in Sudan that would change the situation in the whole area. "I was there, and they are now constructing an airport, a bridge, roads, everything. The whole area is moving now. About US $2 billion will be spent in that area, and it will bring it alive," Hamid observed.
The Merowe/Hamadab dam, budgeted at a total cost of $1.2 billion, was financed by China's Export Import Bank and several Arab financial institutions.
According to the IRN/Corner House report, Sudan's electricity-generating capacity before the project consisted of about 760 megawatts of thermal power and about 320 megawatts of hydropower. In a country with a population of close to 40 million, the national power utility had only 700,000 customers. About 70 percent of the electricity was consumed in the capital, Khartoum.
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