Nubians in Egypt demand rights

The ethnic Nubian population in Egypt should be allowed to return to their native homeland on the shores of Nasser Lake, according to experts at a leading conference on their cause, held earlier this week. During a press conference on the “Nubian cause” on Thursday in Cairo, law expert Dr Ayman Salama, urged the Egyptian government to introduce a law allowing Nubians to return to their ancestral homeland. “At the moment, the state deals with the Nubians on a case by case basis. This should change. There should be clear rules and a law should be implemented allow Nubians the right of return to the shores of Nasser Lake,” said Salama. Nubians are an ethnic minority from a region which stretches along the banks of the river Nile. Their displacement over the last century from areas surrounding the Nasser Lake is well documented. In the 1960s, the construction of the High Dam, forced hundreds and thousands of Nubia to relocate Kom Ombo. Many have suffered discrimination and persecution from Egyptian authorities. However, since the fall of Mubarak’s regime in 2011, many Nubian groups including the armed movement Katala, are demanding greater rights for their people. Speaking at the conference, Hamdi Suleiman, the head of the Nubian Union, called on “the establishment of a Nubian Party to reunite Nubians from different directions and to promote their cause for the right to return to Nasser Lake.” Meanwhile, other key figures including media professor Dr Thorya al-Badawi said that more positive media coverage was needed in the country to break old stereotypes of Nubians. He concluded, by urging producers of popular Egyptians dramas to be more inclusive of Nubians as well as encouraging the ethnic minority to adopt positions of power.