Egypt’s military detained 87 Egyptians and 136 foreigners on the Sudan border on Monday, accusing them of illegal gold mining and smuggling, the military said. The operation seized “large amounts of equipment and devices used in illegal mining operations.” The military also warned that “it retains all available options to deal with all threats.”
On the same day, Sudan’s top general Abdel-Fattah Burhan, on a visit to gold-rich northeastern Sudan, called on his citizens “to not move towards the borders to incite any problems” and pledged to investigate the smuggling routes. Egypt’s foreign ministry has not released a breakdown of the detained miners or the foreigners’ nationalities. The crackdown comes against a backdrop of Sudan’s three-year civil war, much of it bankrolled by smuggled gold.
What Egypt Detained on the Sudan Border
The military’s coverage of Egypt’s border detentions said the operation caught 87 Egyptian nationals and 136 foreign nationals, without naming the foreigners’ countries. The military also announced the seizure of mining equipment and devices used in what it called illegal operations.
Egypt’s southern region is rich with gold mines, and the government has launched big mining projects there, including the Sukari megaproject, the country’s flagship formal-sector mine. The military’s statement did not link the detained miners to a specific company or concession. Video clips posted online showed hundreds of Sudanese people at a border crossing between Egypt and Sudan, with Sudanese media reporting they were miners detained and expelled by the Egyptian government. The mining crackdown comes as Egypt’s licensed sector has been courting new foreign investment in the same region, with corporate mining projects and informal diggers competing for the same ground.
The military’s warning that it “retains all available options” set the tone for the operation. Egypt’s south has long hosted informal mining that operated outside the formal sector.
The Strike at Sudan’s al-Ogaidat Mine
On June 16, miners told Sudan Tribune that Egyptian drones and heavy artillery struck artisanal gold mining sites in Sudan’s River Nile State near the Egyptian border, killing several people. The miners pointed to an Egyptian combat camp established near the al-Ansari and al-Ogaidat mining sites. They said thousands of informal workers fled into surrounding mountains and caves as the bombardment ran from early morning into the afternoon. The June 16 strikes at Sudan’s al-Ogaidat mine have not been addressed in Egypt’s Monday statement.
Egyptian border guards have previously burned equipment, torched temporary shelters, and fired live ammunition to disperse workers at those sites, the miners said. Egyptian authorities had accused the Sudanese prospectors of crossing the international border to mine near a concession managed by an Egyptian company. The Egyptian military’s Monday statement, announcing the latest detentions, came without confirmation of the earlier strikes or the reported deaths. The miners’ accounts also describe vehicles attempting to evacuate stranded individuals being targeted and destroyed during the bombardment. Thousands of people remain unaccounted for, the miners added.
Why Egypt Is Sounding the Alarm
The Egypt-Sudan border runs 1,276 kilometres. Cairo has spent years thickening the security cordon on that line.
Egypt’s military statement framed Monday’s detentions as a defence of Egyptian sovereignty. Egyptian political analyst Eslam Mansi said the surge in illegal mining has propelled repeated crackdowns by Egyptian army troops in the area. The activity, he added, has compounded a rise in trafficking across the same terrain.
Egypt hosts what the government estimates at around 10 million refugees, with only a fraction registered with the United Nations refugee agency. The inflow from Sudan has added to that load since the war began in mid-April 2023. Egypt has long described itself as a refugee haven, though in recent months the government has started asking the international community to share the refugee burden with it. The analysis of Egypt’s crackdown and Sudan spillover lays out the prospect that Sudan’s fragmentation would create a security vacuum along Egypt’s southern border.
Egyptian political researcher Nageh Mustafa said Egypt sees Sudan’s disintegration as a direct threat to its national security. A border vacuum, he said, would be filled by terrorist groups and trafficking rings.
Egypt has reportedly upgraded a military airport in its Western Desert, close to its border with Sudan, in preparation for using it in support operations of the Sudanese army and against the RSF. The Egyptian air force is also allegedly active in striking RSF supply convoys travelling to Sudan from neighbouring Libya. These movements place Monday’s crackdown on artisanal miners alongside a larger pattern of cross-border military activity.
- 1,276 kilometres of unsecured desert frontier to police
- Up to 10 million refugees inside Egypt, with more crossing from Sudan
- Cartels and armed groups operating near mining sites along the border
- Alleged cross-border strikes by the Egyptian air force into Sudanese territory
- A smuggling economy tied directly to Sudan’s gold revenue
The Gold Pipeline That Funds Sudan’s War
Gold accounts for 70% of Sudan’s revenue. A 2024 U.N. Panel of Experts report found that more than 50% of that gold is smuggled out of the country.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have smuggled out thousands of tons of gold from the Darfur and Kordofan regions to fund themselves, the AP report said. The same gold corridors feed Egypt’s southern desert, where artisanal miners work informal shafts and sell into networks that span the border. Sudan’s artisanal gold mining sector employs more than two million people, a figure that has surged since the outbreak of civil war in April 2023. Informal miners operating under harsh conditions across remote parts of the country produce more than 80% of Sudan’s total gold output.
With so much of the trade operating outside the law, Egypt’s military has labelled all of the detained activity illegal mining, with no distinction between individual diggers and organised smugglers. The same desert terrain hosts both the informal gold trade and a rise in cross-border trafficking.
- 70% of Sudan’s revenue from gold
- More than 50% of Sudan’s gold smuggled out (2024 U.N. report)
- 2 million+ artisanal gold miners in Sudan
- 80%+ of Sudan’s gold from informal miners
- Thousands of tons of gold smuggled by the RSF (Darfur and Kordofan)
The Industry Egypt Is Trying to Protect
Egypt’s stakes run deeper than the border raid. The country’s southern region hosts the Sukari megaproject, a flagship mining development intended to anchor Egypt’s industrial gold push. Cairo has courted foreign miners and signed new memoranda to map the Eastern Desert’s gold belt, including a recent MoU with Turkiye-based OZ Mining. Egypt is also finalising procedures for a nationwide aerial mineral survey aimed at drawing global investors.
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, one of the loudest voices in Egypt’s mining sector, has publicly warned that armed miners could scare off investors before the real treasure is even touched. The Egyptian government is targeting a jump in mining’s share of GDP from 0.5% to 5-6% by 2030, with the plan announced at a mining conference in Perth on September 8, 2025. Egypt’s broader push includes the new MoU with Turkiye-based OZ Mining and the nationwide aerial mineral survey.
The two governments’ statements on Monday framed the same problem from opposite sides. Burhan, in gold-rich northeastern Sudan, called on his citizens “to not move towards the borders to incite any problems” and pledged to investigate the smuggling routes. The Egyptian military warned that it “retains all available options to deal with all threats.” Egypt and Sudan share gold deposits in the Nubian regions, with Cairo’s side anchored by licensed projects and Sudan’s formal sector eclipsed by informal mining.
Cairo and Khartoum now manage the same Nubian gold belt through very different structures. Egypt’s side is anchored by licensed projects like Sukari; Sudan’s side is dominated by artisanal miners and smuggling networks.
| Indicator | Egypt’s gold sector | Sudan’s gold sector |
|---|---|---|
| Share of national economy | 0.5% of GDP (target 5-6% by 2030) | 70% of national revenue |
| Informal mining workforce | Anchored by formal projects like Sukari | More than 2 million artisanal miners; 80%+ of output informal |
| Cross-border smuggling | Crackdown on illegal cross-border mining | More than 50% of gold smuggled out |
Egypt Has Not Named the Detainees
The Egyptian military said a number of suspected gold miners surrendered to Egyptian authorities and were later sent back to their home countries. It did not elaborate on the nationalities of those who were detained or expelled. Video clips posted online showed hundreds of Sudanese people at a border crossing between Egypt and Sudan, with Sudanese media reporting they were miners detained and expelled by the Egyptian government. Egypt’s foreign ministry has not released a public breakdown of the detainees or their nationalities.
The result is hundreds of miners in Egyptian custody, a pledge from Khartoum to investigate the smuggling routes, and no public accounting of who was detained or expelled. The military’s warning and Khartoum’s call for citizens to stay home leave the miners caught between two governments under pressure. Egypt has not named a timeline for processing the detainees. Khartoum has not disclosed how many of its citizens were among those expelled. The two governments have not announced any joint operation to manage the cross-border mining. Egypt has also faced unrest across its regional frontiers, including in Libya and the Red Sea, adding to the pressure on its border operations.
