Increase of cancer cases in northern Sudan

Residents of Abu Hamed in northern Sudan’s River Nile state have reported an increase in the number of cancer patients in the area.

“Apart from a growing number of people having cancer, we witness as well an increase in miscarriages,” a listener reported to this station from Abu Hamed.

“Our agricultural crops are not growing as before, and pigeons, hens, and other birds are dying,” he said.

According to the source, the increase in deadly diseases is caused by the use of cyanide by traditional gold mining companies in the region.

He therefore demanded the Sudanese president “to intervene to solve the problem by preventing companies from using internationally prohibited substances”.

In May 2014, Radio Dabanga reported about an unusually high rate of cancer in Wadi Halfa. “Fish are dying, and birds drop dead from the sky,” a resident from Wadi Halfa said. “Cyanide spreads through the air, and can reach places over a distance of 150km,” he noted.

Environmental hazards

Cyanide and mercury are used, mostly by traditional small-scale miners, for extracting gold from ore. The processes are controversial because of the highly toxic nature of the chemicals.

Protests against gold extraction plants in several parts of the country have increased, in particularly this year. In Northern State, North Kordofan, and North Darfur people took to the streets as well in fear for their health. In July, two people were killed in South Kordofan, in a dispute over a gold extraction plant in the area.

According to El Jeili Hamouda Saleh, Professor of Environmental Law at the Bahri University in Khartoum and legal advisor of the National Committee for Environmental Protection, the use of cyanide and mercury will definitely lead to an environmental disaster in the country.

There are more than 40,000 gold mining sites in Sudan, he told this station in August. About 60 gold processing companies are operating in 13 states of the country, a quarter of them in South Kordofan.

Saleh expressed his concern about the silence of the Sudanese government with regard to the protection of the environment. “In many cases, government officials are even helping these companies to violate the law.”

Environmental expert Dr Hasan Mohamed Hamad told this station in December 2016 that significant environmental law violations regularly occur in the oil-producing and mining areas in Sudan.

“The foreign mining companies in Sudan never intended to spend money on measures for the protection of the environment. In fact, those companies belong to the most polluting countries in the world,” he said.

Exports

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the southern Sudanese rebel movement led by the late John Garang in January 2005, Khartoum began to prepare for a possible secession of the south. As a secession would include the loss of about two thirds of its oil income, Sudan opted for the development of gold mining to compensate the losses.

In December 2016, Minerals Minister Ahmed El Karori reported that Sudan produced 25.6 tons of gold that year so far. The sales abroad amounted to $1.24 billion, representing 37 percent of the country's exports. In 2014, Sudan had become Africa’s third largest gold producer, with more than $1 billion from gold exports.

According to the US Enough Project, the majority of Sudanese gold is conflict-affected and entails “a high risk for money laundering”.

Central Darfur

The new Minister of Minerals, Hashem Ali Salem, has announced the opening of 10 gold mining blocks in Central Darfur.

During his inspection of the Hashaba Mine in Jebel locality, Salem said that gold, lead, copper, and chrome will soon be extracted in Central Darfur. To counter the dangers and waste of mining, the state will provide metal protection equipment, as well as sanitary units and tanks and for clean drinking water.

The Minister called on Sudanese and foreign companies to invest in the state's new mining blocks. He said that his Ministry will work on the development of the mining processes by offering opportunities to those companies that use modern mining techniques, and provide economic growth in the area, including work opportunities for the people.