Security forces shut down Mahas club in Khartoum

January 21, 2016(KHARTOUM) – Activists from the Mahas Community have said the Sudanese security has sealed off their club in Khartoum to prevent a mass gathering the community had called in opposition of the Kajbar Dam project in their area.

The community said the gathering was supposed to take place in their club, located at Al -Diyoum al-Sharqiyya , south Khartoum, Thursday night.

Pressure groups are active inside Sudan and abroad in opposition of three proposed dams in the Northern and Nahr al-Neel sates of Sudan.

The opposition for the projected dams has intensified following the signing in November of the three dams funding agreements between Sudan and Saudi Arabia, during a visit by President Omer al-Bashir to Riyadh.

The al-Shiraik, Kajbar and Dal dams are meant to produce power.

Communities to be displaced by the dam projects oppose the construction of these facilities.

Four persons from Kajbar area were killed during protests against the construction of the dam in 2007 .

In April 2006 three demonstrators were killed in Amri area during protests against the Meroe project.

The activists had considered the closure of the Mahas community’s club in Khartoum as another “new conspiracy” against the Nubian community.

“In a new attempt and in continuation of the series of conspiracies against the Nubians , ten security personnel closed the Mahas Community Club to prevent a demonstration called for by the Dam’s resistance committee,” the committee said in a statement released on Thursday.

Sudan Tribune recalls that the Sudanese Humanitarian Action Commission had in October issued a directive to shut down the Mahas Community Club in Khartoum saying it continues , among other activities , to organize events hostile to Kajbar Dam .

An official of the Northern State had said in May 2013 that the Kajbar Dam , which is projected to produce 360 megawatts of electricity, would inundate 12 villages on both banks of the Nile in the Northern State.

The dam resistance committee said the security had on Thursday summoned its chairman Emad Mirghani to its office.

It further said they would hold the security responsible for the safety of Mirghani, who is a lawyer by profession.

The committee has called upon all the Nubians to gather at the club at 5 pm, Thursday to protest the measure.

(ST)