German companies share the blame for violations of human rights in the Sudan

On the occasion of the start of the 5th German-Sudanese Business Forum the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) has accused German firms of being partly responsible for violations of human rights in the construction of the Merowe dam in the northern Sudan. In a 14-page memorandum the GfbV documented the arbitrary arrests, massacres and other violations of human rights against several thousand migrants in the course of the construction of the controversial high dam on the Nile. "It is scandalous that German firms such as the company of Lahmeyer International, which is based in Bad Vilbel, can look for support in an economic forum partially funded by the German government for this controversial dam of enormous size, while at the same time thousands of people in the Sudan are being driven out of their homes”, criticised the GfbV Africa expert, Ulrich Delius.

The construction firm of Lahmeyer International, which is well-known throughout the world, is responsible for the planning and coordination of the construction works for this project, while it is above all Chinese firms which are engaged on the actual building work. This huge project is in the forefront of the two-day German-Sudanese Economic Forum, which begins tomorrow.

More than 50,000 small farmers and nomads of the Arabian ethnic groups of the Manasir, Amri and Hamadab are to be moved before the completion of the project in the year 2008, which will be costing 1.8 thousand million US dollars. With the construction of the Merowe dam a reservoir 174 km long and four km wide is planned, with the aim of improving the supply of energy in the Sudan.

In protests against the move, which was reinforced by force, three objectors to the dam were shot by security forces on 22nd April 2006 and 50 people injured. On 30th September 2003 live rounds, plastic bullets and tear gas were used against women, children and men in a protest against compulsory migration and the conflict escalated. Many objectors to the dam were arrested and tortured. The GfbV states in its memorandum that critics of the Merowe dam did not turn the mammoth project down categorically, but were protesting only against their being moved into barren desert areas, their inadequate compensation and the lack of opportunity for them to participate in the planning of the dam.