SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Radio Dabanga - Tensions rise between Sudan Armed Forces garrison and El Gedaref farmers

25/8/2020: Radio Dabanga - Tensions rise between Sudan Armed Forces garrison and El Gedaref farmers

 Radio Dabanga report that farmers in the Atbara and Setit dams complex in eastern Sudan’s El Gedaref complain about increasing frictions with members of the local military garrison over agricultural land.

 A resident of Village 1, created during the construction of the dams complex in 2015, said army officers beat three farmers from the village because of disputes over agricultural land.

 “This is just part of recurrent attacks by army troops on villagers tending their farms,” he said, adding that “army individuals are cultivating lands that were expropriated for the building of the Atbara and Setit dams.”

 He urged Suleiman Ali, the newly appointed civilian governor of El Gedaref, “to intervene, stop attacks by army soldiers on the farmers, and review the ownership of the lands in the area.

 Radio Dabanga note that locals displaced by the dams project on the Kassala-Gadarif border have not received compensation or employment.