Air raid kills dozens of gold miners on Sudan-Egypt border

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - KHARTOUM — An air raid at a gold mine near the disputed Sudan-Egypt border has killed at least 72 workers, according to a human rights group, after survivors described scenes of chaos in the mountainous region.

The Sudan-based Emergency Lawyers, a human rights and legal advocacy organization, said the attack occurred on Saturday in rugged and mountainous territory that it said lies within Sudan.

The attack, south of the remote Halayeb triangle, east of the River Nile, is the second of its kind this year.

It comes amid growing concern in Egypt over large-scale displacement from the three-and-a-half-year conflict in Sudan, which has spurred a cross-border exodus.

Emergency Lawyers, which documents atrocities in Sudan’s war, accused the Egyptian military of carrying out the attack.

“Egyptian fighter jets targeted civilian miners in the northern Wadi area inside Sudanese territory, resulting, according to preliminary information, in the killing of 72 civilians,” the Khartoum-based rights organization wrote on X on Sunday.

The reported attack on Saturday cannot be independently verified, and Egypt has issued no official comment.

It was this year’s second attack on the mountainous border region of Jabal al-Uqaydat, a gold mining area. Similar strikes, also reportedly carried out by Egypt, killed 23 workers at the gold mining site in June.

The Egyptian military said at the time that it had conducted a “large-scale operation” against illegal gold mining within its borders.

The border between Sudan and Egypt is disputed, with both countries claiming the resource-rich Halaib Triangle.

Images shared on social media and by local rights groups, which could not be verified, showed dozens of bodies strewn in rubble and others wrapped in funeral shrouds. Miners described an air strike on the area.

Since April 2023, the war in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed more than 200,000 people and created a humanitarian crisis that has pushed many into the dangerous gold mining industry, which fuels both sides’ war efforts.

The rugged mountainous area, home to bountiful mineral deposits, stretches for hundreds of kilometres and includes the disputed Halaib Triangle.

Emergency Lawyers said the attack occurred within Sudanese territory.

“The repeated attacks on the gold and mineral-rich border regions reflect a desire by Egyptian authorities to expand and assert control over Sudan’s natural resources,” it said.

The Egyptian army said in June that it carried out its operation “within Egyptian territory”.

It said 223 people were detained, including 136 foreign nationals, and announced a campaign to counter “illegal gold mining and arms smuggling” in the area.

Despite backing Sudan’s army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Egypt considers the war at its border – which stretches 1,200km (745 miles) from the Red Sea to Libya – a significant threat to its security.

East of the Nile River, the porous border has for years been a thriving conduit for gold, illicit trade and human trafficking, which Egypt has tried to stem, including by using mass deportations.