Invitation to UNESCO Director General to visit Nubia before damming

H.E. Mrs. Irina Bokova
Director General
United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Paris, France


H. Excellency Mrs. Irina Bokova;
Greetings

Further to our previous correspondences regarding the invitation extended to your Excellency by some Nubian organizations (copies attached).

We, the undersigned Nubian organizations, friendly organizations, academicians and friends of Nubia, have the great honor to approach your honor regarding the mounting threats against Nubia and its heritage. The government of Sudan who is supposed to be the custodian and protector of the Nubian heritage and archaeological wealth is the main cause of threat to the Nubian people and their heritage by damming Nubia, displacing Nubians, confiscating and selling their lands and relocating millions of Egyptians in the Nubian ancestral lands and using the Nubian land as a free reservoir for Egyptian waters.

In its relentless efforts to safeguard Nubia, the Nubian grassroots and civil society organizations reached to a decision on Saturday, June 25, 2011, to merge the two main Nubian organizations resisting construction of Dal and Kajbar dams into one organization under the name of:
The Nubian Supreme Authority for Development and Resistance of Dal and Kajbar Dams (NSADRDK), to tackle the threats and dangers facing Nubia. Nubia is subjected to systematic and aggressive policies of Arabization and cultural cleansing by the governments of Sudan and Egypt where Nubian comprise a sizeable minority of their populations. The newly born entity has elected its leadership headed by Mr. Ezzeldin Idris as its President to represent the Sudanese Nubians from Wadi Halfa in the north to Dongola in the south.

The governments of Sudan and Egypt have jointly and intentionally implemented series of destructive policies to dismantle the Nubian societyfabric and assimilate the indigenous people of Nubia into Arabic culture through well organized programs of cultural cleansing, acculturation and indoctrination.

Nubians were subjected to displacement four times since Aswan Dam was constructed in 1902 and the destruction of Nubia continued and reached its peak in 1964 when Egypt built its High Dam and the total Nubian population in Egypt was removed from their ancestral lands to the desert of Kom Ambo while 50,000 Nubian Families from Wadi Halfa and its suburbs in Sudan were relocated in Eastern Sudan. Though some important Nubian artifacts and antiquities were salvaged, an irreparable damage was done to most of unexcavated Nubian archaeological sites which submerged for good.

The damage to Nubian archaeological sites continued when the government of Sudan finished building Meroe Dam in 2009 as a part of a series of planned dams to be built in Nubia including Dal, Kajbar and Elsheraik. Nubians are against building dams on these cataracts which will submerge the whole Nubian land and destroy its archaeological wealth documented by academicians from all over the world. Archaeological sites in Sai island, Soleb, Kerma and many other historical sites will be destroyed and disappear forever while the world is watching this mogul destruction silently.

On June 13, 2007, the security forces opened fire on peaceful Nubians protesting against building Kajbar dam, killing four young Nubians and injuring 20 others. Many Nubian activists were and are subjected to arrest and harassment by the security forces.

The situation started getting more complicated after signing the Four Freedoms Agreement, (freedom to move, live, work and own) between the governments of Sudan and Egypt in April 5, 2004 without the knowledge and consent of Nubians. The agreement allows resettlement of millions of Egyptians in Argin Basin in the Nubian land which will change the demographic composition and force the Nubian minorities to move or become foreigners in their ancestral lands!

The government of Sudan continued its oppression against Nubians by issuing Presidential Decree number (206) in 2006 confiscating the Nubian lands in Wadi Halfa municipality; near the Egyptian border.

The 50,000 Nubian families who were relocated in eastern Sudan in mid sixties of the last century, during the construction of the Egyptian High Dam were cramped in asbestos roofed houses. Their numbers have dramatically increased during the last four decades. Many of them started migrating to other cities and to Arabian Peninsula for work while thousands remained confined in their limited lands in eastern Sudan without any expansion since mid sixties of last centuries. Many of them are facing an epidemic like instances of asbestos related cancers.

Recently, the government of Sudan allowed for interested individuals and groups to explore gold in the Nubian lands. This gold rush brought thousands of gold seekers, some of them armed with automatic machine guns to the area where they vandalized many historical graves and sites under the knowledge of the authorities, and there are rumors of finding some historical artifacts and smuggling them to Egypt and to the local markets.

It is our believe that the international community has a legal and moral obligation towards preserving and protecting the Nubians, their heritage and culture from destruction by dams, and protect Nubians, as one of the indigenous people of the world from the excessive and systematic Arabization, cultural cleansing and relocation.

Governments of Sudan and Egypt prohibit usage of the Nubian language in their educational curricula and apply discriminatory measures to deny Nubians from holding sensitive and key governmental positions unless they master Arabic language and get affiliated with the ruling elites and culturally assimilated to the dominant Arabic culture as a precondition for survival or for holding senior positions.

The systematic depopulation of the Nubians from their lands and gradual replacement by non-Nubians is intended to destroy the strongly knitted social fabric of the Nubian society and disrupt the long lived harmony and demographic homogeneity of the Nubians, one of the oldest indigenous and distinctive cultural groups in the Nile valley and Africa. Nubians as indigenous people are entitled to get international protection according to the international laws protecting the indigenous people, their cultures and heritage.

We call upon your Excellency and your esteemed organization, the relevant UN agencies, human rights organizations, academicians, scholars, and the international community at large to kindly respond to this urgent appeal and rush to the rescue of Nubia from the eminent destruction and devastation by the planned dams of Kajbar and Dal in Nubia which will inundate one of the most precious and invaluable archaeological sites of the world. We urge your Excellency to alert the international community to exert all possible pressures on the government of Sudan to stop building dams in the Nubian lands and put an end to decades of deception, destruction, intentional marginalization, isolation, cultural and ethnic cleansing which have been practiced by the consecutive governments of Sudan in collaboration with the Egyptian governments against Nubians, their culture and heritage. The Nubians have never recovered yet from the devastation of the High Dam of Egypt to their lands and properties in early sixties of the last century.

Please find also attached below a letter from the International Society of the Nubian Studies (ISNS) in response to a letter from the National Corporation of Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) of Sudan, drawing the attention of the academicians and the international community to the seriousness of the destruction of Nubian artifacts by the proposed dams in Nubia.

We call upon your Excellency to:

• Take every urgent measures and necessary steps to stop forthwith the building of Kajbar and Dal Dams and any dam in the heartland of Nubia and extend every possible help Nubians are entitled to, by the international laws.

• Help break the isolation imposed on Nubia since independence and open Nubia for international tourism as a sustainable development method rather than damming Nubia for the sake of generating limited hydroelectricity and turning Nubian land to a reservoir for Egypt’s water.

• Urge all relevant UN agencies and concerned organizations to conduct investigation on the deterioration of Khashm el-Girba Agricultural scheme and the spread of asbestos related cancers among Nubians who were relocated in asbestos roofed houses in mid sixties of last century following the High Dam construction and compensate the victimized families and make sure that the Nubians who suffered from forcible relocations for the purpose of building the Aswan and High Dams on their lands be compensated for their sufferings during the last four decades and that they shall not be forcibly removed again from their lands or territories and that no relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous people of Nubia.

• Protect and enable the Indigenous people of Nubia to have the right and freedom to use their ancestral lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, and their right to maintain, control, protect and develop their language, cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions

• Inscribe the Nubian archaeological sites as part of international heritage and stop destroying them by dams or vandalization and insure the right of the indigenous people of Nubia to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures.

• Encourage the international museums hosting Nubian artifacts to sponsor “baby” museums in Nubia and international organizations to return the Nubian artifacts taken illegally to their original sites in Nubia to enable the inflow of international tourism to Nubia and help repatriating Nubians who were forced to leave their ancestral lands.

• Enable the right of the indigenous people of Nubia to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.

• Enable the Indigenous people of Nubia who are divided by international boundaries between Sudan and Egypt, to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other people across borders.

• Insure the right of the Indigenous people of Nubia to have free access to public media or establish their own media in their own languages and to have access to all forms of non-indigenous media without discrimination.

The Nubian Supreme Authority for Development and Resistance of Dal and Kajbar Dams (NSADRDK), the Association of Antiquities Friends (AAF), Nubia Project Organization (NPO), the academicians from around the world and all friends of Nubia have the honor to draw your kind attention to heed to our desperate cry for help and accept our invitation to visit Nubia at your earliest convenient and send a fact finding delegation from UNESCO and any relevant association you deem necessary to investigate and report to you.

Signatories:
First: Nubian organizations:

1- Mr. Izeldin Idris, President of the Supreme Authority for Development of Nubia and Resistance of Dal and Kajbar Dams (SADNRDKD) Sudan.
2- Mr. Salah Mohamed Ahmed, Secretary of the Association of Antiquities Friends (AAF), Sudan.
3- Mr. Nuraddin Abdulmannan, President of Nubia Project Organization, USA


Second: International Organizations and academicians:

International organizations and academicians willing to sign in support of the invitation letter to
UNESCO DG, please e-mail us at: [email protected]

Photos showing the neglected Nubian statues and graves vandalized by gold seekers and antiquity smugglers in the Nubian cemeteries and historical Sites.

Attachments:
1. The link to the International Appeal to Rescue Nubia And to stop Building the Kajbar Dam: http://www.petitiononline.com/Appeal/petition.html
2. Invitation letter from Nubian organizations to H.E. Mrs. Irina Bokova, DG of UNESCO dated November 16, 2009
3. Letter of Dr. Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Center, Paris dated December 9, 2009 to Nubia Project.
4. Letter from Nubia Project to Permanent Delegation of UNESCO to Egypt (UNESCO office in Cairo) dated December 21, 2009 pursuant to the letter from Dr. Francesco Bandarin, Director of the World Heritage Center, Paris
5. Letter from Professor Williams Adams, Head of first UNESCO campaign to Salvage Nubian Antiquities in mid sixties of last century, dated January 14, 2008.
6. Letter from Professor Derek Welsby, former president of the International Society for Nubia Studies (ISNS), dated 10/02/2009
7. Letter from Sudan National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), dated February 1, 2012.
8. Letter from Dr. Vincent Rondot, President of International Society of Nubian Studies (ISNS), dated February 2, 2012.

Please note that images of vandalized monuments, statues and graves were not uploaded due to technical difficulties. I will upload them separately.

Thank you.

Nuraddin Mannan
Nubia Project.
[email protected]
www.nubiaproject.org (under construction)

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