Tension looms after bloody clashes in Sudan’s Hamadab area
Dec 12, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Five days after the meeting of the Council of Hamdab dam Affected People in the Sani area, army soldiers still patrol the area day and night.
Soldiers are still occupying water wells seized by the Chinese contractors from the nomads of the area earlier in the week.
To-date, unknown number of nomads’ animal died due to thirsty and many nomads’ families are leaving the area in search for water.
The meeting of the affected people five days ago was tightly surrounded by the army soldiers armed with heavy artillery and automatic machineguns. Journalists who attended the meeting said that an eminent bloodshed was hardly avoided.
They said the elderly people played a critical role in diffusing the tension among more than seven thousands villagers who attended the meeting urging them to disperse peacefully and avoid confrontation with army soldiers who were taking firing positions around the meeting place.
Four people are now confirmed dead when the army soldiers diverted the lorry carrying them to drive among the hills. Consequently, the lorry crashed killing four and injuring more than thirteen. Injuries of four are said to be serious.
Recent report from the area said that army is diverting trucks carrying goods to the area or travelling through towards villages on the Nile bank. The diversion route which is 75km longer than that which runs through Sani has caused sudden and sharp increase in consumer goods in the villages down on the river banks.
Events in Sani area ( 30 km off the Nile bank opposite the dam in Bayouda desert), escalated when a Chinese Contractor hired by Hamdab dam authorities supported by dams’ security forces occupied the water wells of the nomads living in the area, depriving them from water. “The Chinese need water for work and use”, the Chinese workers told the nomads, reports say.
The USD 1.8 billions Hamdab dam project on the Nile Fourth cataracts is financed by Arab Funds and constructed by Chinese Contractors.
Conflict between dam authorities and the affected communities (75,000 people) arises when the dam authorities refused to negotiate with the representatives of the communities to ensure their rights and entitlements.
Whereas the affected communities demand resettlement on the reservoir shores, the authorities decided to resettle them in the desert. Ten thousands people from Hamdab have already been forcefully uprooted by the army and security forces in 2003 and resettled in the Bayouda desert.