In November, Syrian rebels fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad overrun government forces and capture the Tishrin hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates River, after days of heavy clashes. The dam supplies electricity to part of Syria and is considered strategically important to the Syrian regime.
Violence over access to a water source in Maluku, Indonesia. Rival mobs from two villages attack one another “with sharp weapons, guns and explosives” causing several deaths and injuries.
In July, thousands of protesters take to the streets in Qidong, Jiangsu Province to challenge a pipeline from a Japanese owned paper factory that would discharge contaminated wastewater into the sea, potentially pollute a nearby fishery, and contaminate drinking water. Demonstrators clash with police and there are reports of damages to government buildings, cars, and other property. Fourteen people plead guilty to encouraging the riot in which dozens of police are injured and the local Communist party chief is stripped…
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.
Militants block work at the Wular Conservation Project (Wular Dam) construction site in the Baramulla District of India – a project opposed by Pakistan. Officials suggest that these militants may have been sent by Pakistan because of their concerns that the project is in violation of Pakistani interests under the Indus Water Treaty of 1960. Sources said that eight of the 16 militants who stopped work of the Project are Pakistani nationals. India says the dam is not in violation…
Demonstrations over water and power shortages in Conakry, Fria, and Dinguiraye turn violent, with dozens injured.
In June 18-19, demonstrators demanding a solution to a dried up water supply block the main road near Tozeur, leading to clashes with police.
Women from the village of Rasooh are reportedly assaulted for attempting to take water from a village well. The tensions over water are related to long-standing tensions between caste groups but have been worsened by drought and water shortage.
22 trucks are set on fire at dam sites in Turkey, in attacks attributed to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.
Extensive violence over water is reported in Kenya, with approximately 50 deaths in clashes between farmers and cattle herders. The conflict is part of a long-running dispute between Pokomo farmers and Orma, semi-nomadic cattle herders, over land and water. The current conflict is being exacerbated by Kenyan and foreign investment in vast tracts of land for food and biofuel cultivation, putting pressure on local resources. (See also entry in 2001.)