Last week Prime Minister Sherif Ismail's government announced a full review of investment policy in agriculture lands in Aswan governorate in response to demands by Egyptian Nubians. The change in policy came after a four-day sit-in held by hundreds of Egyptian Nubians on the road between Aswan and the Abu Simbel archaeological site. The protest was staged after police forces prevented a group of Nubians from going to Toshka to protest against allocating agricultural land in the area to investors. A parliamentary delegation headed by MP Mostafa Bakri visited Aswan to hold talks with the protesters and submit a report to Ismail who pledged to meet the demands according to the law and the constitution. Ismail said in a press statement that Nubians will be given priority in the sale of land in one of the disputed areas. “The sons of our beloved Aswan will have priority to the lands allocated to the state's 1.5 million Feddans Project operated by the Egyptian Countryside Development Company,” Ismail said in a statement. Following the statement, the protesters ended their sit-in and called for a meeting with the prime minister to discuss how his decision will turn into action. To end the crisis or keep it from worsening, the government suspended the selling of land in Toshka and Khorkund to investors. It also accelerated the establishment of what would be called the Higher Authority for Nubian Development, which is one of the protesters' demands. The body was proposed by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in 2014. Parliament is working on a law to set up the new authority. Selling land in Toshka and Khorkund to investors is part of the government's 1.5 Million Feddans Project due to be completed in just two years and which aims at expanding Egypt's total agricultural land by approximately 20 per cent. The project will be implemented in 14 areas across Egypt to serve the needs of all governorates. In August, Al-Sisi issued a decree allocating 922 feddans in Toshka to the New Toshka development project which is now part of the 1.5 Million Feddans Project. In October, the government announced it would sell parts of the New Toshka project by auction to investors. However, Nubians oppose Toshkha and Khorkund's inclusion in the plan, saying the government should instead build villages for families displaced during the building of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. Nubians were displaced several times during the 20th century due to changes in the dams that control the Nile River. The first was during the building of the Aswan Dam in 1902. They were again displaced during maintenance in 1933. Further disruption occurred with the building of the Aswan High Dam by former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser in the1960s. Many displaced families were compensated with land and financial support. However, the current generation of Nubians demand benefits from the development of Toshka and Khorkund. They also called for re-activating Article 236 of the Constitution to end the dispute. The Constitution directs the government to create the necessary framework to develop Nubian villages and help other underprivileged areas through a comprehensive strategy and a set of laws. It does not stipulate handing over the land to Nubian families. “The state shall develop and implement a plan for the comprehensive economic and urban development of border and underprivileged areas, including in Upper Egypt, Sinai, Matrouh and Nubia. This is to be achieved by the participation of the residents of these areas in development projects and benefitting from them, taking into account the cultural and environmental patterns of the local communities within 10 years of the date that this Constitution comes into effect,” the article says. In 2014, Presidential Decree 444 was issued, later passed by parliament, designating certain border areas, including military zones that cannot be inhabited, including 16 Nubian villages. In August this year, Al-Sisi issued Decree 355, designating 922 feddans of state-owned land to the New Toshka development project. Revoking the decree is among the protesters' demands even though this has been rejected by some Nubian leaders and the majority of MPs. Nubians call for the scrapping of the decision, however, the government says the decree is not only for Nubia and Aswan but includes all border areas for the protection of national security. “We believe in their demands and everything will be solved through dialogue to achieve better conditions and prosperity for our fellow Egyptians in Aswan,” Bakri, also a political TV show host, said. He added that Nubians understand how the government is trying to strike a balance between developing border areas and protecting national security.
