Hemeti ‘set to hand Jebel Amer gold mines to Sudan govt’

Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council, Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’, has reportedly started arrangements to hand over the mining areas in North Darfur’s Jebel Amer to the Sudanese government. The anti-corruption NGO Global Witness issued a statement about Hemeti’s move.

A source close to the independent Sudanese news website El Rakoba said that the decision must be seen in the framework of Hemeti’s support to the Hamdok government. 

He claimed that Hemeti submitted his offer to hand over all mining areas in Jebel Amer in mid-October, but the announcement of the news was delayed by legal and military reasons.

Mining revenues from Jebel Amer will enter the state budget from the beginning of the year 2020.

The source added that Hemeti has contributed to solving the cash flow problem in Sudan by paying the full costs of printing new banknotes.

Global Witness

The anti-corruption NGO Global Witness issued a statement about Hemeti’s move. “If true, this news is significant. Just days ago, Global Witness revealed new evidence of Hemeti’s capture of a large part of the gold market in Sudan. We also exposed the Rapid Support Forces likely front companies, as well as the purchase of nearly a thousand vehicles with the potential to be weaponised to violently suppress peaceful democratic protests in the country.”

“In our investigation we asked for a fast and genuine move to prevent Hemeti, the RSF militia he leads and its front companies from gaining more revenue – whether from gold, the provision of mercenaries, or transfers from meddling states.

“This move to hand a large chunk of the gold market back to Sudan’s government is a positive step in the right direction. If it happens, it must be managed carefully and transparently to ensure that money flowing through the gold market in the country goes to Sudan’s people and not into the pockets of corrupt elites,” the statement reads.

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