Egypt Announces Fourth Phase of Gold Mining Crackdown

Egypt’s military said it will begin the fourth phase of Operation Southern Shield on Saturday, extending a campaign against illegal gold mining in the Eastern Desert after three phases conducted between June and October. Military spokesperson Ahmed Othman Ali announced the planned operation at a news conference on Thursday, November 5.

The military said the campaign had arrested 691 people, including 151 Egyptians and 540 foreign nationals. It also reported seizing 34 firearms, 6,307 rounds of ammunition and 4,488 tents and makeshift shelters used for mining. Those totals come from the military’s account of the operation.

Ali said armed drones had been used to strike locations where the military said armed individuals and weapons were present. He said the targets were selected using intelligence and coordinates, and that civilians were not targeted. The sources do not establish whether his description of drone strikes referred to the deadly October incident near the border.

That incident has prompted conflicting accounts. Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers accused Egypt’s air force of killing 72 civilian mining workers in strikes on October 10 in Sudan’s Red Sea state. The...