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Egypt brings long-awaited compensation to thousands of Nubians

The Egyptian government made a show of providing compensation to thousands of displaced Nubians last month, but they still cling to the hope of returning to their lost land.
A man plays music on a traditional musical instrument in the Nubian village of Adindan near Aswan, south of Egypt, September 30, 2015.  For half a century, Egypt's Nubians have patiently lobbied the government in Cairo for a return to their homelands on the banks of the Nile, desperate to reclaim territory their ancestors first cultivated 3,000 years ago. Yet all their efforts to gain political influence have brought next to nothing. In Egypt's incoming parliament, which will be finalised after a second rou

The high-profile ceremony Jan. 20 in which thousands of Nubians were officially compensated for their lost land was beyond their dreams. Nevertheless, some are still clinging to the possibility of returning to their ancestral land at Egypt's border with Sudan, no matter how slim this possibility may be.

It's been over a century since Nubians experienced their first displacement in 1902 when the construction of the Aswan Low Dam — currently known as the Aswan reservoir — began and they had to move from their ancient hometown stretched along the banks of the Nile River in southern Egypt. Still others were forced to move in 1912 and 1933, with the heightening waters of the Aswan Low Dam.

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