Pro-government militia kill a gold miner in N Darfur

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that on Saturday pro-government militia killed one gold miner in Jebel ‘Amer, Al Sref Beni Hussein locality, North Darfur. They added other dozens were looted, pointing out that Saturday was the night before Eid al-Fitr (end of Ramadan). A victim informed Radio Dabanga that as a result of the attacks the Nazir of the Beni Hussein tribe decided to place gates around the mining area to prevent anyone armed from entering it. The Beni Hussein is the largest Arab tribe in the locality. The victim added that pro-government militia killed and looted hundreds of miners since the mine exploration began nine months ago in the region. A medical source informed Radio Dabanga about high mortality rates amongst miners, often caused by wells that collapse killing several miners caught inside.The source also warned about the danger of health-related issues spread among gold miners. He noted that in the past few months health centers and hospitals received many patients suffering from lung and glands diseases, measles, diarrhea, headache, nausea and abdominal pains. The medical source said this is the result of miners’ inhalation of dust particles and of working in deep wells under high temperatures. He explained that the use of mercury also poses a high-risk to miners’ health.