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14 May, 2007
SHANGHAI, China - Chinese-funded dams and other projects potentially threaten Africa's environment and local populations, an environmental group said Monday, urging Beijing to avoid similar mistakes made by Western donors.
Civic groups need to be engaged over projects such as the Merowe dam in Sudan, which is forcing 70,000 people from their homes in the Nile Valley into the Nubian desert, the U.S.-based International Rivers Network said in a statement.
The statement was issued during a visit to China by activists that coincides with Shanghai's hosting of the African Development Bank's annual meeting, a sign of China's growing engagement with the continent, where its companies have fanned out to build infrastructure and seek resources such as oil and gas.
That deepening relationship is putting Chinese firms increasingly in the center of local disputes, including one between Muslim rebels and the government of Ethiopia. A rebel group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, killed 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese oil workers in a raid on April 24.
Ali Askouri, a representative of Sudanese groups opposing the Merowe dam, said Chinese-funded projects could worsen such disputes if they failed to address local concerns.
"China should consult African civil society groups and affected communities in the projects it finances," Askouri said.
Daniel Ribeiro, a water expert with Mozambiquan group Justica Ambiental, said he was in Shanghai to raise concerns over a planned dam funded by China at Mpanda Nkuwa on the Zambezi river, something he said would have a major impact on the entire Zambezi delta region.
"As a developing nation, China is in a unique position to offer advice and support to African countries," Ribeiro said.
"China should learn from the mistakes of Western governments, and should not turn a blind eye to corruption and environmental destruction in the projects it promotes."