Nubians are angry that they have not been represented in parliament. But that is only one of their complaints prompted by a feeling of being kept on the fringe for many years under the former (and present) regimes. Nubian representatives (various coalitions and societies) protested this week calling for, among other things, their right to return to their cherished homeland on the banks of Nasser Lake. From l902 to l932, when the Aswan Dam was being constructed or upgraded, Nubian people were displaced on several different occasions and lost many of their villages in the process. The largest displacement, however, occurred in the early l960s and coincided with the construction of the mega High Dam when some 45 villages were submerged by rising water levels behind the dam. They were mostly relocated in Kom Ombo, in an area known as the Nasr el-Nuba Desert. A smaller number opted to resettle themselves in various places throughout the country. The Nubian culture and lifestyle is unique and her people wish to preserve their cultural identity and claim their ancestoral lands in the vicinity of Nasser Lake. They maintain that the lands set aside by the State as substitutes (in the Kom Ombo Valley) lack the characteristics and features uniquely aligned with their history, culture and lifestyle. Despite the plight of Nubians throughout the 20th century to date, the people of Nubia are generally distinguished by their tolerant demeanour and have always considered themselves as part and parcel of this nation. However, the recent emergence of Katala, an armed Nubian movement, has been vocal in its calls for independence, sentiments disapproved by a large majority of the Nubian base, as Mohamed Salah Adlan, the head of the Nubian Club affirms. In the wake of the January 25 Revolution, Nubians took advantage of the revolutionary platform to assert their decades-old demands anew. In September 2011, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of the then Prime Minister Essam Sharaf with Nubian representatives. The outcome of the meeting was a decision to establish an authority for the development of the Lake Nasser area. Yet, to date the decision has remained mere ink on paper. Today, Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, who attended the September meetings (in 2011 as the Irrigation Minister), formed an ad-hoc committee to examine the Nubian demands. “This brings the whole issue to square one again," Adlan told Al- Ahram Arabic daily. He believes that Sinai, whose problems are more or less similar to those of Nubia in terms of under development and cultural distinction, is getting more official attention compared to Nubia. He was amazed by the low-level dandling of the Nubian file, which, as he said, is an extension of ‘Egypt's soft power' in Africa. Speaking on behalf of 44 Nubian societies incorporated in the club he chairs, Adlan failed to understand why the list of 90 members appointed by the president in the Shura Council (the Upper House of Parliament) was void of Nubian representatives. “Representatives of Copts, of Sinai and Matrouh Bedouins were included on the list but not Nubians," he said.
