MEROWE, Sudan (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir inaugurated a massive hydro-electric project on Tuesday that has displaced tens of thousands and is the largest to be built along the Nile in 40 years.
[Nile River originates in neighboring Ethiopia, but an agreement signed with the British government a century ago prevents Ethiopia from using it for such purpose.]
The 1.8-billion-dollar (1.4-billion-euro) Chinese-engineered Merowe dam looks to double Sudan’s power production to about 1,250 megawatts. Two of its 10 turbines, which were built by French group Alstom, are already in operation.
More than 40,000 people have had to leave their homes to make way for the dam and the vast reservoir that will be formed behind it north of the capital Khartoum.
It is the biggest project of its kind since the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt in the 1950s and was developed by China’s CCMD consortium under the supervision of German group Lahmeyer.
The dam’s inauguration comes on the eve of an announcement by the International Criminal Court on whether it will issue a warrant for Beshir’s arrest over alleged war crimes in Darfur.
Thousand of Sudanese gathered for the ceremony in an apparent show of support for the president.
Many of them held up posters of Beshir scribbled with the message: “We are with you.”
Pictures of ICC prosecutor general Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who recommended last July that the court issue the arrest warrant, were strewn on the ground to be trampled on by the crowd.
On Sunday, Beshir addressed a huge rally in Khartoum to rally domestic support ahead of the ICC’s announcement.
Despite the six-year-old war in Darfur, China has maintained close relations with Beshir’s regime, drawing criticism from international human rights groups.