A “justice” reading of the trans-national struggle of the people displaced by the Merowe Dam

ABSTRACT

This paper applies a “justice” lens to the struggle of the people displaced by the Merowe Dam in northern Sudan. Application of distributive, procedural, and representational aspects of justice exposes the dissatisfaction of the affected people with the government’s offer and execution of compensation. Consideration of social justice and the utility of norms in trans-national activism brings into sharp focus the difference in interests, and abilities of the many actors involved, and highlights the government’s tactics to divide the communities, and the social divisions sown. As the struggle develops, justice claims are seen to change towards less material issues, suggesting that an expanded and dynamic conception of justice is more helpful than narrow or time-bound conceptions. The findings are of relevance to communities facing possible displacement from dams planned nearby, not least of all for the insight provided on the effectiveness of different tactics in the struggle.

KEYWORDS:

• Social justice
• environmental justice
• dams
• hydropolitics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The questionnaires were administered in four locations by two male and two female research assistants who came from nearby communities and were trained by project staff. The four locations were chosen to enable comparison across the communities affected by the dam (Hamdab, Amri, and Manasir), and to contrast the views of those who accepted resettlement (in New Hamdab, New Amri, and Makabrab) and those who did not (the so-called local option Manasir). Graded against a Likert scale, the questionnaires were further divided 50–50% between women and men. The responses are analysed in greater detail in Dirar et al. (2015), and served to shape the key informant interviews and group interviews that followed.

2. The research is further informed by the experience of two of the authors, who have reputations and insight as national environmental and heritage experts, and one of whom is a Merowe activist (though not from any of the affected communities). This proximity allows access and insight that would otherwise not be possible to achieve, though of course introduces potential bias in the selection of villages visited and people interviewed. Because of the sensitivity of the topic, no government authorities were interviewed. The official perspective would be otherwise a welcome addition to the analysis.

3. Researchers investigating environmental justice issues have asserted, “[t]he focus on outcomes deflects attention from the root causes of injustices. Compensation is an ‘end-of-pipe’ intervention that may address distributive outcomes but not the underlying distribution of assets and political-economic power” (UEA-GEJ 2013).

4. Young’s (1990) five faces of oppression (exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence) are equally relevant to the Merowe case, if well beyond the reach of this project's focus on distribution and procedure.

5. 1 feddan = 0.42 ha = 1.308 acre.

6. “ … a traditional invocation; the Bismallah is followed by the sentence ‘The intention is white and the soil is black. The fruits of this tree are freely offered to the beggar, freely offered to the thief’. That is to say that the tree should provide alms in the name of Allah to whoever is in need of it, and therefore should be under His protection” (Salih 1999, quoted in Haberlah 2012, p. 5). “Salih recorded a similar saying in the nearby village of Birti: ‘It has been planted for hungry people, passing by guests, wayfarers, thieves, good will seekers, enemies and friend’” (Salih 1999 quoted in Haberlah 2012, p. 5)

7. See DIU website www.merowedam.gov.sd/en/testimonials.html for testimonies of Sudanese authorities about the project.

8. More specifically, funding for the Merowe came from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), the national development funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and bilateral funding from Oman and Qatar. Chinese funding, which covered 85% of the cost for the construction of the transmission lines and substations of the dam, totalled $608 million USD (DIU 2007a). Funding from the Sudanese government was close to $1.1 billion USD, bringing the total financial investment approx. $3 billion USD. The figure may be closer to $5 billion USD (Verhoeven 2012).

9. Each house consisted of two rooms aligned with each other and separated by a small corridor. They also contain a kitchen, one pit latrine, and an outer wall. The rooms are built with unbaked bricks from within and baked bricks from outside. The outer walls are built of unbaked mud brigs and the roof is made of corrugated metal sheets which absorbs heat.

10. Including the Sudan Archaeological Research Society in London, the British Museum, Humboldt University of Berlin, and University of California Santa Barbra.

11. It also reflects the well-known observation that conceptions of justice are culturally-informed (see Vermeylen, in preparation).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Development Frontiers Award of the Economic and Social Research Council and Department for International Development (ES/K012460/1).