Egypt-Sudan gold mine strike site in disputed area

Satellite imagery analysed by AFP and cross-checked with survivors located a deadly October 10 strike on Sudanese gold miners in the Halayeb Triangle, a disputed area claimed by both Egypt and Sudan and controlled by Egypt.

A local NGO gave a conservative estimate of at least 72 people killed. The exact location had been disputed, with survivors earlier saying they had been on the Sudanese side of the border.

The Egyptian military did not refer directly to the strikes but said it was conducting a campaign against illegal mining in the area to “impose full sovereignty within the borders of the Egyptian state”. Sudanese authorities have launched an investigation.

Three survivors contacted by AFP confirmed the site and said other parts of the wider Jabal al-Uqaydat mining area had also been hit. Sudanese media outlet Ayin Network also identified the site as one of the targets.

The small-scale mine lies within a 176-square-kilometre mining concession awarded by the Egyptian government to a state-owned gold exploration and mining company. Satellite images from October 7 and 13 showed excavation sites, tracks, earthworks and small encampments spread over several kilometres.

Observers said hundreds of miners, many of them children, remain missing in the mountains. A June strike in the area, also attributed to Egypt, killed 23 Sudanese miners. Cairo did not acknowledge responsibility at the time but announced a “large-scale operation” against illegal gold mining within its borders.

In Sudan, where the UN says nearly 20 million people face acute food insecurity, many young men work in small-scale gold mines. The gold industry fuels both sides of Sudan's war, which is estimated to have killed more than 200,000 people.