Development: Sudan Dam Draws Fresh Fears of Social Unrest

Development: Sudan Dam Draws Fresh Fears of Social Unrest

One of Africa's largest dams, now under construction in Sudan, carries a hefty price for the environment and threatens intensified social unrest, project critics say.

The Merowe/Hamadab Dam Project, a 1.5-billion-dollar effort on the fourth cataract of the Nile River, would double the country's energy capacity but in the process would displace more than 50,000 people, mainly small farmers living along the river, they say.

A group representing local groups warned that the project also would destroy archeological sites in the area, where early human and African civilisations evolved and ruled from the Nile Valley to Palestine.

Spearheading local opposition to the massive construction project is the Leadership Office of the Hamadab Dam Affected People (LOAHP), a non-governmental organisation that says it represents local communities.

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