Clashes between Chad gold miners leave 100 dead, more than 40 injured

GOOBJOOG NEWS|N’DJAMENA: Around 100 people were killed in clashes between artisanal gold miners in northern Chad last week, the country’s Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim said on Monday.

The violence broke out on May 23 and 24 at an informal gold mining site in the mountainous Kouri Bougoudi district, some 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) northeast of the capital N’Djamena and near the border with Libya.

“Roughly 100 people died and at least 40 people were wounded in the fighting,” Defence Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim told reporters following an assessment tour of the site.

“The fighting was not triggered by inter-community issues but an argument between two individuals that degenerated into fierce violence,” he said, adding 20 suspects have been arrested.

Meanwhile, the government announced the suspension of the operation of the mining site, affecting local miners and those from other countries.

Local media reports indicated that this is the fourth time the Chadian government is trying to dislodge the miners from the gold panning locality, with the majority of mines in the area said to be illegally operated.