No fewer than 100 people have been confirmed dead following clashes between gold miners in northern Chad, Defence Minister General Daoud Yaya Brahim have disclosed.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that violence broke out on May 23 at Kouri Bougoudi near the Libyan border, sparked by a ‘mundane dispute between two people which degenerated’, he noted adding that the toll was “around 100 dead and at least 40 wounded.’
The clashes occurred in the rugged Tibesti Mountains in the central Sahara, some 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Chadian capital N’Djamena.
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The discovery of gold there has sparked a rush of miners from across Chad and neighbouring countries, and tensions often run high.
The clashes were between Mauritanians and Libyans, the minister said.
He spoke to reporters by phone from the area, where he said he was with a large military contingent sent to help restore order.
‘This isn’t the first time that there’s been violence among gold miners in the region, and we have decided to suspend all gold mining at Kouri until further notice,” he said, adding that “the great majority (of mines in the area) are illegal.’
The incident was first announced on Wednesday, when Communications Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said in a statement there had been “loss of human life and several wounded,” but gave no further details.
Down in Nigeria, the Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Uchechukwu Sampson Ogah has insisted that capital punishment against illegal miners is the potent way of stopping fleecing of nation’s resources in the mining and solid minerals sector and would never be set aside.
According to the minister, the projected ₦7.3billion in 2022 will be ₦1.1billion higher than ₦6.2billion generated and remitted for 2021.
