Egypt reports 691 arrests in Eastern Desert gold-mining campaign

Egypt's army said on Thursday 5 November that it had arrested 691 people, 151 Egyptians and 540 foreign nationals, in a multi-phase campaign against illegal gold mining in the Eastern Desert near the Sudanese border. Military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Etman Ali gave the cumulative figures at a news conference. He said another 6,614 people had surrendered before operations began, Egyptian Streets reported. All figures come from the military and none has been independently verified.

Reuters reported that two Egyptian army officers, "including a high-ranking border guard officer", were killed during the crackdown. The spokesperson did not say when. The army did not disclose the nationalities of the 540 foreign detainees or where they are held. A fourth phase is due to begin on Saturday 7 November. Reuters said the campaign is "intended to strengthen state control over Egyptian territory and protect national resources."

Armed drones and an unanswered October question

The New Arab, which calls the campaign Southern Shield, reported that the army seized 34 firearms, 6,307 rounds of ammunition and 4,488 tents and makeshift shelters used for mining. The spokesman said 52 gatherings of armed groups had been identified inside Egypt. Phase one began on 14 June west of Marsa Alam and Jabal Eiqat. Phase three ran from 12 to 29 October.

The spokesman also confirmed the use of armed drones. Voice of Nigeria quoted him at the Thursday news conference: "Operations were conducted based on precise and confirmed intelligence, complete with coordinates of weapons and ammunition depots, which were targeted using armed unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), no civilians were targeted."

The statement comes against an unresolved allegation. In October, the Sudanese rights group Emergency Lawyers said at least 72 miners were killed in an airstrike in northern Sudan near the Egyptian border. The figure has not been independently verified. Reuters said the military did not refer to the reported strike or the deaths at the time.

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What remains open

Three questions are unanswered. The first is who killed the miners in October. The spokesman said no civilians were targeted and that operations were conducted on Egyptian territory. Emergency Lawyers describes a strike on Sudanese territory. Neither account has been independently verified.

The second is what happens to the 540 foreign nationals. The army has not said who they are, where they are held or what legal process they face.

The third is when the two officers died. The spokesman named them as Colonel Ahmed Samir, chief of staff of the Southern Region Border Guard, and Lieutenant Colonel Ahmed Gouda, operations chief of a border guard battalion, and said they were killed in exchanges of fire, Al-Shorouk and Ahram Online reported. The New Arab noted that a military funeral for a Colonel Ahmed Samir Noor Al-Din was held on 10 March, before phase one began. Whether that is the same officer is not clear. The timing of the deaths has not been explained.

The spokesman said Egyptian and Sudanese forces exchange information on securing the border, and that officials from both countries have met recently. Phase four extends the operation from Saturday.