Dam is trouble,speaker insists

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Solar energy would be a better alternative in the Sudan, a history professor said.

By SEAN BARRON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

YOUNGSTOWN — Many people who live in northern Sudan aren't affected by the war in and near Darfur.

Instead, numerous landowners are finding themselves in a different kind of fight: They're standing against a five-year-old, $1.7 billion dam project, said a noted professor of history who spoke here Saturday night.

"The project shouldn't occur if people don't agree it's in their best interests," said Manu Ampim. "I don't see the justification for it."

Ampim, an internationally known scholar and professor of history at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif., was referring to the construction of the Merowe Dam in northern Sudan near Egypt. The dam's potential ramifications were the centerpiece of a talk and slide presentation he gave to several dozen people at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, 614 Parmelee Ave., on the city's North Side.

In his lecture "The Vanishing Evidence of Classical African Civilizations: The Case of the Merowe Dam in Sudan," Ampim discussed what he said will be numerous negative consequences related to the project.

Ampim, of Oakland, Calif., estimated that 70,000 farmers and other landowners will be displaced, many of whom will be forced to make a living on barren and much less fertile land.

Affected families are to receive only 500 pounds, which is the equivalent of $250, as compensation, he noted.

In addition, Ampim continued, the Merowe Dam — the largest such project in that country's history — will flood and permanently submerge thousands of valuable, untouched African artifacts and archaeological areas.

"It's a tragedy because there's no way these archaeological sites could ever be excavated," he added.

Ampim, who spent two weeks there in August conducting field work, said he questioned the timing and location of the dam work. Most local people don't see the dam as a pressing need, he noted, adding that it has led to many protests and clashes between citizens and police.

The project also will mean harm to the environment, in part because silt will collect and cause the dam to back up, Ampim predicted.

Chinese companies are among the largest investors in the project. They and other entities will profit at the expense of local landowners, most of whom have no political influence, he said.

Another problem is that little effort was made to consider alternative energy sources, Ampim pointed out. Solar energy, for example, would be viable in a country such as Sudan, which has sunny weather most of the year, he noted.

The professor said that two other, smaller dam projects are under way in Sudan, both of which carry the same set of negative circumstances. People need to be informed about the Merowe Dam so they can be in a better position to halt the other two, he added.

Ampim also leads tour groups to Egypt and plans to return to Sudan next summer.

Sponsors of the lecture were St. Augustine's, the Greater Warren/Youngstown Urban League, the African History Study Group, and the P. Ross Berry-George Washington Williams Historical Society.

Sunday, December 9, 2007