Egypt asks Tantawi help resolve Nubian sit-in

Former President Mohamed Morsi (C) seen with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi (L) and Egyptian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Sami Anan, before the military coup against him, on 12 August 2012 [alarabiya]

The Egyptian government yesterday asked former Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi to intervene and resolve a sit-in organised by Nubians to protest against the government’s planned takeover of land they say is part of their ancestral homeland.

Tantawi, who descends from the Nubian village of Abu Simbel, is reported to have met with Aswan Governor and Deputy Nasr Al-Nubia, Yassine Abdel Sabour, in Aswan before meeting with the protesters.

On Saturday, a group of Egyptian Nubian activists organised a convoy called “The Nubian Return Caravan” where Nubians from all over the country headed, in 25 buses, to the villages of Toshka and Forkund villages to start a sit-in against a presidential decree to allocate land in both villages for development, however they were blocked by security forces, Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

The protesters continued their sit-in on Sunday on the Abu Simbel-Aswan highway.

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