Egypt’s Nubians get second chance at requesting compensation
On the occasion of the anniversary of laying the foundation stone of the Aswan dam, the Egyptian state opened the door to the second phase of the compensation paid for the Nubians who were displaced from their lands.
The people of Nubia in Egypt’s Aswan governorate have been awaiting the payment of compensation for the damage they suffered about a century ago from the inauguration of the Aswan Low Dam (the first Aswan dam) — currently known as the Aswan reservoir — in 1902 and later the construction of the Aswan High Dam, which was built between 1960 and mid-January 1971.
The Nubians were displaced from their villages, which stretch over 350 kilometers (217 miles) along the banks of the Nile River in southern Egypt, in 1902, when the Egyptian government began building the Aswan Low Dam to prevent flooding that led to the drowning and displacement of most of the Nubia residents.
Since then, the Nubian community has been demanding to return to their villages and financial compensation for the loss of their lands.
In January 2017, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decision to establish a specialized committee tasked with the distribution of compensation to the Nubians.
