VZCZCXYZ0005
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKH #0711/01 1281223
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 081223Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7116
INFO RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0245

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000711 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/SPG AND SE NATSIOS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS PHUM KPAO SCUL KDEM PGOV PREL SU
SUBJECT: SUDAN - NUBIAN VIEWS ON NILE DAM PROJECTS 
 
REF: SECSTATE 56709 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) Summary and Comment:  Poloffs met with two 
representatives of the Nubian Popular Committee, Dr. Sabbar 
and Mr. Faisal Barry, on May 1.  Discussions confirmed that 
the Nubian community in Northern Sudan continues to oppose 
Government of Sudan intentions to construct two additional 
dams along the Nile River to the detriment of the resident 
Nubian population as well as ancient Nubian artifacts and 
culture.  Recent demonstrations against these projects have 
turned violent and have been documented in local press, but 
poloffs assess that the claims of 15,000 to 20,000 attendees 
and the use of army units and helicopters at these mid-April 
demonstrations are exaggerated.  Nonetheless, the GOS 
activities opposed by the Nubians are a legitimate concern 
for human rights, cultural, and archeological reasons. Work 
on one of the dams, Kajbar, had been suspended as a result of 
recent demonstrations, but on May 8, Northern State 
authorities announced that work will resume. End Summary and 
Comment. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Two representatives of the Nubian Popular Committee, 
Dr. Sabbar and Mr. Faisal Barry, met with Political officers 
on May 1. They provided an historical overview of the 
situation in the Nubian area of northern Sudan. The Aswan Dam 
project in Egypt, completed in the 1960's, introduced a 
significant threat to the native Nubian culture along the 
Nile River and encouraged significant archeological activity 
in that region by international experts.  New plans by the 
government in Khartoum to construct two more dams along the 
Nile north of Khartoum, as explained by Dr. Sabbar and Mr. 
Faisal, present identical threats to Nubian culture and spawn 
the same Nubian opposition. The Kajbar Dam project located on 
the Nile between Merowe and the Egyptian border will be the 
first of the two to be constructed. The Dahl dam project 
located at the top of Lake Nasir, in the far north of Sudan, 
will begin after the completion of Kajbar. Construction of 
these two additional dams would leave submerged nearly the 
entire traditional homeland of the Nubian people, according 
to Dr. Sabbar. Preliminary work started on Kajbar, but was 
halted in April 2007 due to demonstrations by local 
residents. On May 8, newspapers reported that work will soon 
resume. 
 
¶3. (SBU) President Bashir has appointed a special directorate 
to oversee implementation and development of these dam 
projects, according to Sabbar and Faisal.  This directorate 
reports to the President personally with no outside oversight 
and operates with his full authority.  According to the two 
Nubian representatives, it is a separate entity from the 
Ministry of Irrigation, which would be expected to have 
oversight of dam projects.  This directorate has employed the 
National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) at previous 
Nubian demonstrations to violently obstruct the 
demonstrators, according to Sabbar and Faisal.  The Nubian 
movement against the construction of these dams and the 
groups associated with it are all peaceful, according to 
Sabbar and Faisal. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Dr. Sabbar said that the Nubian movement has not 
attempted to take legal action against the Khartoum 
government to prevent these dam projects from going forward 
and has made minimal attempts to engage the international 
community to address the issue.  Sabbar conceded that the 
international community is otherwise occupied with many 
problems in Sudan, but observed that the government's intent 
to displace and effectively obliterate Nubian culture through 
the destruction of these areas was tantamount to ethnic 
cleansing in his opinion, however peaceably it might occur. 
 
¶5. (U) Under treaties dating from 1929 and 1959, Egypt has a 
say in the construction of new dams on the Nile in Sudan. Dr. 
Sabbar said that Egypt is willing to allow the construction 
of the two additional dams because they will furnish 
irrigation water to Egyptian farmers.  Sabbar insisted that 
Nubians dislocated by the construction of the new dams would 
not be allowed to resettle in the areas of new irrigation. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Dr. Sabbar claimed that the construction of the two 
dams would cause the dislocation of 74,000 Nubians. He said 
further that he is convinced that the Khartoum government 
would not compensate those dislocated.  Populations of 
Nubians deplaced from previous dam construction have not been 
compensated, he stated, but rather have been moved to areas 
where they are under threat of being assimilated into the 
Arabic speaking population. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The two representatives claimed that 15,000 to 
20,000 Nubians demonstrated against the Kajbar dam project in 
April. They stated that three Nubians had been injured by the 
police in the course of the demonstration. When pressed, they 
confirmed that the population of the villages in the area is 
only in the range of 3,000 to 4,000. But they said that buses 
had been organized to bring Nubians in from Khartoum. When 
asked who had paid for the buses, food and accommodation, 
they replied that the people involved had paid themselves. 
 
BERNSTIEN