Deadly air strike on goldminers lays bare a Sudan deeply mired in economic deprivation caused by war
The Sudanese man in the video speaks with obvious elation. “Come on, you guys, quit your jobs selling food in the market and come and join us,” he says as he chips away at a rocky wall rich with glittering gold veins. “We have discovered where the gold is and it's a huge treasure trove,” he adds in the video purportedly shot in a gold mine and shared widely online. “We had been digging for 16…
A video shared online depicts a Sudanese man exuberantly inviting fellow market food vendors to join him in a gold mine, boasting about the immense wealth of gold they have unearthed after 16 months of painstaking digging. The man, bearded and slender, chants "Allahu akbar!" along with others present, clearly filled with jubilation and gratitude.
This video, captured in a mountainous area near the Egyptian border and Red Sea, highlights the tragic fate of 72 Sudanese goldminers killed in an air strike on October 10. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which has deeply affected Sudan, a nation already ravaged by a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Many have taken to social media to express their grief and anger, questioning the government's protection of its people and the sincerity of its public declarations to launch an inquiry. The Sudanese military-aligned government and Egypt have yet to confirm responsibility for the attack, stating they are investigating the incident while respecting each other's sovereignty and borders.
Images and videos uploaded online, which cannot be independently verified, show the aftermath of the strike, with bodies strewn across rubble and survivors angry and heartbroken. Gold prospectors brave inhospitable regions, extracting gold in remote areas to feed their families, but the ongoing war makes this dangerous work even more perilous.
Sudan's gold rush, fueled by the loss of oilfields after South Sudan's secession in 2011, has intensified amid the current civil war, with estimates suggesting over two million artisanal miners involved. However, official figures indicate Sudan only exports about 20 tonnes of gold, while the remainder is smuggled out or processed at local refineries.
The gold production, which stands at roughly $2 billion, is a significant source of government revenue.
Written by urgent.news from The National UAE's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
