Nubians give Egyptian government deadline
Nubians are prepared to seek international intervention to regain their rights to expropriated lands.
CAIRO — Egypt's displaced Nubians want their land back and are threatening to take their demands to the international community.
The Nubians were forced out of their villages along the Nile River in the 1960s when the Aswan High Dam was constructed, and their decadeslong struggle to return reached a critical point in October, when the government put the land up for sale to Egyptian and foreign investors, as well as farmers. After numerous attempts failed to get the government to recognize their claim to the land, on Dec. 3 a Nubian delegation submitted to Egypt's parliament speaker Ali Abdel Aal a petition outlining their demands.
If the demands aren't met, the Nubians are prepared to refer their case to international arbitration.
“When the specified deadline to the government expires [Dec. 17], we will take our cause to the international level, hoping to return to our land that the government forced us to leave," Mohamed Azmy, an activist for the cause, said in exclusive statements to Al-Monitor.
