CAIRO — “The revolution might gush out of the south, just like the Nile does.” With this slogan, Nubians raised their voices once again in protest of the Egyptian administration's putting part of their lands up for sale to investors. This prompted them to demand their right of return and repatriation to their homeland from which they were displaced when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s.

The crisis was renewed when many Nubians protested as part of the so-called Nubian Return Caravan, in an attempt to reach the Nubian Toshka and Forkund villages to protest the sale of their lands as part of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s national development project to reclaim 1.5 million feddans (2,432 square miles). On Nov. 19, the security forces obstructed the caravan’s arrival. Consequently, the protesters staged a sit-in on the road leading to the disputed land.

Munir Bashir, the head of the Coordination Committee of the Nubian Return Caravan, told Al-Monitor over the phone from the sit-in spot on Abu Simbel-Toshka highway, “The caravan wanted to voice Nubians’ objection to the government’s decision to sell their lands. But we were surprised with the security’s arbitrary measures to stop us from reaching our destination. They even threatened to arrest any Nubian who tries to cross the security checkpoint, and they said they would besiege the caravan and ban any food or water from reaching the protesters for three days.”

The Nubian Return Caravan’s demands include: