ASWAN, Egypt – Last weekend in Egypt’s south, Nubians launched an unprecedented challenge to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government by marching in protest to their historic homeland, more than 50 years after they were forcibly displaced by the state.
The action was part of a new youth and activist-led movement that has been brewing since the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
Nubians are an indigenous African people in southern Egypt who have faced displacement by state-sponsored projects for many decades. They also say they face cultural marginalization and color discrimination.
Cars and micro-buses conveyed the participants on Saturday morning from Balana village, blaring Nubian music and displaying signs and posters with slogans, including: “Nubia Is Not For Sale!”
On social media, activists from one of Egypt’s oldest African ethnic minorities were abuzz with excitement as the demonstration aimed to send a message to the government, demanding that the constitutionally guaranteed Nubian Right of Return be honored amid attempts to sell their ancestral land.