A group of Moroccan villagers, including many women and children try to stop the water supply to a local silver mine. They shut down some of the main wells that supply water for mining citing concerns about water allocation and pollution. The facility in Imiter, a Berber village nestled in the High Atlas mountains, has been accused of drawing more than its fair share of water and polluting what it uses.
Violence breaks out at water points in the Jamam refugee camp in South Sudan. Medicines Sans Frontieres reports that as many as 10 refugees die every day because of water shortages at refugee camps in South Sudan.
Villagers from the Nile Delta province of Menoufia north of Cairo briefly lock the Egyptian health minister and a provincial governor inside a hospital room in protest over contaminated water caused hundreds of residents to fall ill. Egypt’s state-run news agency MENA says the number of sick people reached more than 400. The two are released with police intervention.
During the 2011 Libyan Civil War, forces loyal to dictator Muammar Gaddafi gain control of a water operations center and cut off water supply to the capital. The system controls Libya’s Great Manmade River”a system of pumps, pipes, and canals that brings water from distant aquifers to Tripoli and other cities. Half the country is left without running water, prompting the UN and neighboring countries to mobilize tanker ships to deliver water to coastal cities.
Farmers from the Abu Simbel region in Egypt hold over 200 tourists hostage to protest inadequate irrigation water. The farmers capture the tourists after they visit nearby monuments, but release them after officials agree to a temporary release of water.
Public protests over drinking and irrigation water shortages take place across Egypt. Several protests turn violent: in Beni Suef, one person is killed and many injured during a conflict over irrigation water; in Minya, villagers clash with officials over water shortages and water pollution; in Faiyum, hundreds of people protesting water shortages block a highway and set fires.
Nineteen people are arrested in Algeria’s Setif region when clashes erupt between protesters and police during a demonstration against water shortages. Around 300 protesters march on the town hall in Bouselam to demand improved water supplies and other local improvements. Clashes broke out when the security forces attempted to access the building by force, with 19 people arrested.
Water for the capital of Libya, Tripoli is disrupted by an attack in southern Libya on a pumping station for the country’s ‘Great Man Made River’ by militants loyal to former Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi.
Militias cut off water supplies to Tripoli for several days in continuing unrest in the country.
A water station in Bir al-Abd town is attacked. No one is reported injured or killed. The attackers claim that the water station was built on their lands.