🇪🇬🇸🇩Egypt's deadly gold mine strikes expose a century-old border dispute with Sudan

A suspected Egyptian airstrike on an artisanal gold mining operation in the disputed Halaib Triangle area claimed by both Egypt and Sudan killed dozens of people on October 11, with estimates ranging from 72 to 160+ or even 200+ fatalities, and dozens of injuries.

❗️This is the second time Egypt is suspected of targeting miners in the Halaib Triangle after drone and artillery attacks in June, which killed at least 23 workers. The Egyptian military has repeatedly demanded a halt in the “illegal” mining activity in what it insists is its sovereign territory.

British colonial authorities are to blame for the dispute over the ~20.5k km territory, drawing two conflicting boundaries for the region between 1899 and 1902. The dispute has been a source of bad blood between the two countries ever since Sudan gained its independence in 1956.
 
🔴Civil war and foreign interference
 
🌏 Plagued by decades of civil unrest (the 1955–1972 and 1983–2005 civil wars, the 2003–2020 Darfur conflict, and the ongoing civil war since 2023), the Sudanese government’s control over its territories is severely fragmented, allowing Egypt to unilaterally mount direct strikes on the border mining zone it might have otherwise hesitated to target.

🌏 The UN and international aid groups have categorized the Sudanese civil conflict as the world’s largest (but severely underreported) humanitarian crisis, with 14M+ people internally displaced, and ~25M (half the population) suffering acute food insecurity and famine conditions.

🌏 The 2023 civil conflict was triggered by a power struggle between de facto leader of Sudan Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces commander Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo following the collapse of a power sharing arrangement two years after the 2021 military coup.

🌏 Sudan’s resource wealth and geostrategic position along the Red Sea trade corridor prompted outside powers to intervene, with the UAE backing the RSF, while Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others back al-Burhan and the Sudanese military. Tens of thousands of people have been killed to date, with up to 400k total perishing, the vast majority of them due to the collapse of the country’s food, water and medical infrastructure.

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