Northern Sudan activists insist on removal of gold cyanidation site

On Friday, anti-cyanide activists in Sawarda in Sudan’s Northern State announced their refusal to resume negotiations with the authorities after their three-week deadline for the dismantling of the gold cyanidation site expired.
For months, the people in Sawarda, Aru, Ashim, Kiweika, Abboud, and Wawa villages have been protesting the gold factory in the area, as they fear the effects of the use of cyanide, used to extract gold from ore, on human, animal, and environmental health.
After they staged a protest on 8 April, blocking the Dongola-Halfa highway, the Northern State authorities promised the immediate closure of the site.
“Yet, the plant has not been closed until now,” Wael Hassan, the spokesman for the Sawarda “Six-party Protest Committee” told Radio Dabanga on Sunday.
“At a meeting on Friday, we confirmed that the state authorities renounced the decisions and the agreement signed with the Six-party Committee concerning the removal of the factory. Therefore we will not enter any new negotiation process with the state government on the site.”
He said that the Committee will soon decide on new steps to be taken.