CAIRO, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- More than 5,000 acres along the shores of Lake Nasser have been set aside for Nubians evicted from their lands by construction of the Aswan Dam, officials say.
The Egyptian government plan is intended to compensate Nubians who lost their main homeland of Lower Nubia to rising waters of the Nile River after the Aswan Dam was built in the 20th Century, Ahram Online reported Friday.
The initiative also grants Nubians agricultural lands and ownership of homes that have been lived in for more than 100 years. The government said it will improve the performance and capacity of three wells to enhance crop production in the Nubian areas of al-Qastal and Adandan.
The project is being undertaken jointly by the Egyptian government and the United Nations World Food Program.
A previous plan by the Mubarak administration that was disliked by the Nubians would have relocated them to an area that did not include any agricultural land. Nubians traditionally are farmers.
