Egyptian security forces have arrested several hundred Sudanese citizens accused of entering the country illegally to prospect for gold in the desert and mountains of its south-eastern region, security officials said on Sunday.
The officials said the area had attracted as many as 50,000 prospectors from Sudan, including members of smuggling gangs, who were allegedly using crude instruments to search for gold.
The security operation began on Tuesday, but reports of the crackdown only began to emerge at the weekend. The raid continues, according to officials, with troops combing the area.
There have been a flood of online reports by Sudanese social media users who suggested that the prospectors were operating in Sudan's Red Sea region, and called for an international inquiry to establish the facts surrounding the Egyptian security operation and determine the number of casualties.
Neither the Sudanese nor the Egyptian armed forces have spoken publicly about the incident, but the officials said as many as 500 Sudanese citizens have been arrested, along with dozens who were deported to Sudan.
Video clips posted online show hundreds of Sudanese men, mostly young, walking in the desert. One clip purportedly shows dozens of them fleeing a Humvee belonging to Egyptian security forces.
The officials said the operation had been carried out in co-ordination with the Sudanese armed forces.
Gold prospecting has always been a shadowy occupation in gold-rich Sudan, but it has grown significantly in popularity since the civil war broke out in 2023, causing severe economic, humanitarian and displacement crises.
The civil war between the armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out in April 2023 after months of tension between army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and RSF commander Gen Mohamed Dagalo escalated into open hostility.
Tens of thousands are believed to have been killed and as many as 14 million displaced by the conflict, which has also created what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
