Killing for gold in Darfur

More than 800 people have been killed and over 150,000 others have been displaced since fighting broke out over the Jebel Amer gold mine in North Darfur in January of this year.

Darfur, a region of western Sudan, has suffered ten years of severe humanitarian crises since war broke out between Sudanese government forces and the non-Arab indigenous population in 2003. Ethnic and political forces have driven the conflict throughout most of the decade but increasingly the violence and instability stems from turf wars over gold.

Once united Arab tribes have “turned against each other in the scramble for material wealth. Rebel groups that oppose the government also want the metal.”

The 2012 Darfur death toll as a result of fighting over gold was “more than double” the total number of people killed in other conflicts between tribes, rebels and the army.

More than 200,000 Darfuris have been killed and roughly 2 million have been pushed out of their homes since 2003.

 

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