Algerian army kills two Sahrawi gold prospectors in Tindouf camps

Two Sahrawi gold prospectors were shot dead on Friday by the Algerian army in the «Dakhla camp», located about 200 kilometers from the «Rabouni camp», the Polisario's headquarters, according to Sahrawi sources contacted by Yabiladi.

Messages of condolence have been circulating among residents of the Tindouf camps. The latest deaths come just two days after three Sahrawis were killed by Algerian soldiers during a pursuit. Among the victims was a relative of Polisario leader Brahim Ghali. According to the same sources, the occupants of the vehicle had left the camps without prior authorization from the Algerian army.

As in previous incidents, the Polisario leadership and its media outlets have remained silent over the latest killings.

On April 9, at least two Sahrawi gold prospectors were killed and several others injured in an attack attributed to an Algerian army drone in the El Argoub area of the Dakhla camp.

The latest deaths are part of a series of similar incidents. In April 2023, three Sahrawi gold prospectors were killed in the same region. In October 2020, two residents of the Tindouf camps died after suffering severe burns while digging a roughly seven-meter-deep well in search of gold.

For many impoverished Sahrawis, gold prospecting remains one of the few alternatives to joining the Polisario's armed militias. Alongside drug trafficking and recruitment by terrorist groups operating in the Sahel, it is seen by some as one of the few ways to escape poverty.