I must say that I am always amazed when media outlets in the United States fail
to cover key international news events. Unfortunately this is routinely the case
when Africans are involved. Thankfully this item was covered by the Asian news
outlet, Taiwan News.

After touring the current home of the Nubians in Aswan province, Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak publicly pledged better treatment of them. You may
recall approximately 60,000 Nubians were relocated from their villages as a
result of Aswan High Dam project during the 1960's. The dam project created the
world's largest man-made reservoir, Lake Nasser, and flooded the Nubian villages
and 18 ancient temples. Only the magnificent dual temple of the Pharaoh Ramses
II, known as Abu Simbel, remains. Under a UNESCO plan, the monuments were moved
to a higher elevation on an artificial hill overlooking the lake.

The Nubians were very skeptical of the Egyptian government's promises concerning
their relocation. "The government promised us paradise, but we thought we were
leaving the Garden of Eden," states outspoken activist and author Haggag Oddoul.
In fact, the settlements were a poorly built ramshackle of 30 camps named for
each of the flooded villages situated five miles east of the Nile. Within a
short period, many of the one-story cinder block houses cracked or collapsed
completely from their inferior construction. To make matters worse, the
relocated inhabitants were not able to cultivate date fields or fish as they
were accustomed. Their cotton and sugar cane crops were poor replacements.

For several years now the Nubians have been slowly returning to their
traditional homeland along the Nile. "The settlements are false Nubia," explains
Oddoul. "To restore our character and community, we need to be rerooted. We need
to return." Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's pledge comes as the Egyptian
government is poised to once again remove the Nubians from their homes. Several
media outlets have begun to report a large scale agricultural, commercial, and
residential development plan along approximately 300,000 acres. The plan even
included large swaths of land set aside for foreign developers, but of course
... no allotment of land for the Nubians.

Who are these Africans who today struggle to maintain their cultural identity?
The Nubian people were responsible for the world's oldest monarchy (more on this
in future posts), the progenitors of the Dynasties of Ancient Egypt, and also
stood as one the world's most powerful nations.

The Nubians have also served as humble caretakers of ancient African culture. As
the Ancient Egyptian empire sat in tatters besieged by foreign rulers, the
Nubian King Piye wrested control of Kemet to form the 25th dynasty. The Nubian
Pharaohs of Kemet did not seek to remake the nation in their own image, but
rather to re-establish the order of Kemet by returning it to its ancient ways.
This approach is best described by Pharaoh Shabaka's restoration of "Memphite
Theology" by ordering the re-writing of a decrepit papyrus on what is now called
the Shabaka Stone. Today the Nubians still maintain their culture by retaining
their own non-Arabic language. Interestingly, they will not teach their language
to outsiders.

TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST AND DISCUSS THE ISSUE. CLICK HERE:
http://blog.centerformaat.com/2009/06/egyptian-president-promises-better.html

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