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Egypt shows interest in Nubian community after years of marginalization

The marginalized Nubian community is back at the forefront in Egypt with a boat race festival to preserve Nubian heritage, held for a second time in Aswan governorate.
Nubian Egyptian women sell souvenirs in the village of Gharb Suhail near Aswan in Upper Egypt, some 920 kilometres south of the capital Cairo, on February 5, 2020. - The Nubian language, according to locals, is unpractised by many in the generation born decades after their mass eviction from their ancestral lands to make way for the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile in the 1960s. Built under Egypt's late president Gamal Abdel Nasser, the colossal project aimed to harness the Nile's annual flood

CAIRO — For the second year in a row, Egypt has organized the Guardians of the Nile Festival for Garaidi sailors in a bid to preserve the Nubian heritage, which constitutes an important part of Egyptian civilization.

The festival was held Aug. 3-10 under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Talent Development Program in Upper Egypt — which was launched by the ministry in 2018 — in support of the Nubian community that has been suffering from marginalization for many years. Nubians welcomed this initiative and called for more steps along the same lines to restore their usurped rights.

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