Air strikes on artisanal gold miners in Sudan’s River Nile state killed at least 72 civilians on Saturday, according to Emergency Lawyers, a rights group based in the capital, Khartoum. The group said jets attacked a popular gold mining site where the miners were working.
Neither the Egyptian government nor Sudan’s de facto authorities had publicly responded to the allegations. Emergency Lawyers said its death toll was provisional and could rise.
Accusations against Cairo over earlier attacks
Egypt has previously faced accusations of deadly strikes on gold prospectors as part of a crackdown on illicit activity along its southern frontier. Emergency Lawyers pointed to those earlier alleged attacks, arguing that they amount to a breach of Sudan’s sovereignty and show that the government has little control over the region.
The group said the deliberate targeting of unarmed civilians breaks international humanitarian law and the right to life, and that such acts could amount to war crimes.
Survivor and eyewitness accounts of the assault
A Paris-based publication reported that the true death toll could be far higher than the rights group’s figure, citing a survivor who said many more people had been wounded. Eyewitnesses told the outlet that the attack began at about 06:00 local time, or 04:00 GMT.
According to those accounts, the aircraft fired more than five missiles directly at the miners’ camps, destroying the camps and excavation pits while people were still inside.
Egyptian border operations and Sudan’s investigation
The same publication had reported claims in June that Egyptian forces used drones and artillery against mining sites in the region, killing several people. Those claims followed earlier incidents in which border guards were alleged to have burned equipment, torched temporary shelters and fired live ammunition to scatter workers.
Days later, Egypt’s border agency said it and the military had launched a wide-ranging security campaign along the frontier to stop illegal migration, drug smuggling and illegal mining. Sudan’s de facto leader has since announced an investigation into the alleged strikes, which were reportedly responsible for dozens of deaths.
Gold at the centre of border tensions
Sudan’s ongoing civil war has fuelled a surge in artisanal mining, a risky activity carried out by civilians using basic tools and without official permission. Gold-rich areas such as River Nile state lie along porous borders, in terrain historically linked to cross-border smuggling routes, and mined gold could feed into those channels.
Egypt’s border force said in June that it had seized 86 tonnes of gold ore along with amateur prospecting equipment. Reports suggest mining has continued in Sudan’s conflict zones and that smuggled gold may provide income for armed insurgent groups, raising concerns that illicit Sudanese gold could undermine Egypt’s legitimate gold market.
