The [UN] Special Rapporteur on adequate housing... Miloon Kothari, [has] issued the following statement "...I continue to receive disturbing reports that large-scale forced evictions may be imminent in the Merowe area...Last year, thousands of people in the Merowe area were relocated in similar circumstances which temporarily left them without food or shelter, and some remain homeless...I urge the companies involved in the projects, such as Harbin [Harbin Power]...Lahmeyer...and Alstom...to put a halt to their activities until a full and impartial assessment of the impact on the human rights of the population is made....I also strongly encourage that States...ensure that the work of their national companies does not -directly or indirectly- negatively impact the human rights of the affected people.