Sudan: Four dead in dam protest
Four people were killed and at least 10 wounded when police dispersed residents in north Sudan protesting a dam project which they say will destroy their community, local press reported on Thursday.
Four people were killed and at least 10 wounded when police dispersed residents in north Sudan protesting a dam project which they say will destroy their community, local press reported on Thursday.
News reports said that police used live rounds on demonstrators after they tried to attack construction equipment being used to build the dam in the Kijbar region.
In a statement, police said they fired live rounds in self defence after tear gas failed to prevent protesters attacking their positions.
Residents of the Kijbar region are protesting the dam project, fearful of having their lands in Sudan's Northern State confiscated.
The protest comes after the government recently agreed to pay compensation to residents of the Merowe region further south, where a controversial Chinese-built dam threatens to wipe out surrounding Nile valley communities. - Sapa-AFP
(The region is also known as Kajbar; for a 1998 article on this proposed dam and the resistance to it, published in IRN's magazine World Rivers Review, see http://www.irn.org/pubs/wrr/9802/sudan.html)