Airstrike on Sudan Gold Mine Kills at Least 72, Exposing Lawlessness on Egypt Border

An airstrike reportedly targeting a gold-mining area in northern Sudan has killed at least 72 miners, exposing a severe security vacuum along the increasingly chaotic border between Sudan and Egypt, according to a human rights group.

The Khartoum-based group Emergency Lawyers accuses the Egyptian military of targeting civilian miners in the North Wadi area of Jabal al-Uqaydat, a mountainous region on the border between Sudan and Egypt. Egypt has not commented on the incident.

Images said to be from the scene and shared by human rights monitoring groups showed a chaotic aftermath, with many bodies wrapped in burial shrouds.

A Volatile Border

The border area between Sudan and Egypt has a long history of tension that persists to this day. In 1899, British and Egyptian authorities used the 22nd parallel north as the demarcation line on the map between Sudan and Egypt. However, the lack of physical demarcation along that line, combined with the region's gold wealth, has turned it into a contested and lawless zone.

Abdul Kareem Al-Almin Ahmed, an expert on Egypt-Sudan border issues, said Sudan's territorial border has long been neglected and that this situation continues. He told Al Jazeera: "The presence of Egyptian Border Guard forces near the area, while there is a complete absence of Sudanese military or administrative presence, makes Sudanese people vulnerable to Egyptian violations and encroachment."

He said the necessary step now is for the Sudanese state — if it still exists — to raise the issue at the United Nations with a complaint of encroachment on Sudanese territory, then immediately carry out physical demarcation of border points in this area and along the entire border strip, and establish border observation posts along the full line.

In June, another artisanal gold mine in the Jabal al-Uqaydat area was also attacked by drones and artillery, killing several people. The Egyptian military said at the time it had carried out an operation "inside Egyptian territory" and arrested 223 people. Egyptian security forces continue to conduct sweeps along the border to combat what they describe as illegal migration, drug smuggling and illegal gold mining.

A Historic Border Dispute

Egypt and Sudan have a history of border tension dating back to the colonial era, and it is not limited to the Jabal al-Uqaydat area. The Halaib Triangle, a 20,580-square-kilometre region on Africa's western Red Sea coast, has been a flashpoint between Egypt and Sudan for more than a century.

The dispute stems from conflicting colonial-era maps. The 1899 agreement between Britain and Egypt concerning Sudan and part of Libya placed the triangle within Egypt's political borders. But a 1902 British administrative decree gave control to Khartoum because the area is closer to the Sudanese capital. The triangle, home to the Bisharin tribe, is known for its fertile land and rich mineral deposits, including uranium, granite, copper and gold.

After clashes between the two countries' militaries along the border in the 1990s, Sudanese forces withdrew from the area in 2000 and Cairo has maintained de facto control over the territory since then.

Security and Sovereignty

The latest unrest follows the start of Sudan's civil war in April 2023, pitting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), reportedly backed by Egypt, against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has devastated the country and collapsed its economy. Extreme poverty has forced many people to turn to dangerous gold mining, including unregulated mines along the border. The collapse of Sudan's central authority has also allowed lawlessness to flourish in the border region.

Sudan's gold is a key source of financing for both sides, but there is no indication that revenue from gold mines in the border area is flowing to either party in the war.

Professor Osama Ahmed Eidrous, an expert in strategic and security studies, told Al Jazeera that foreign powers have prolonged the conflict between the two sides. He said: "What is happening in Sudan is not a civil war; despite the presence of the Rapid Support Forces as a warring party, this is an external war of aggression within a larger regional project."

According to Eidrous, every impact on the Sudanese people, the weakness of central authority and the difficulty of controlling the border are caused by the ongoing war in Sudan. He added that the miners pose no threat to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and are not participating in the war.

"We are talking about miners working in gold extraction, and we have never heard that there were armed clashes, that they carried weapons, or that they fought against the Egyptian government or the Sudanese government. They are miners who are Sudanese citizens, suddenly attacked by the Egyptian air force and struck a second time, killing 85 of them," he said.