“WE DON’T WANT VIOLENT POLITICS IN KADUNA,” GROUP TELLS POLITICAL PARTIES, URGES THEM TO CALL SUPPORTERS TO ORDER. (PHOTO).
A gold mine collapsed in southern Sudan, killing at least 60 small-scale miners, two survivors told AFP on Wednesday, while many more are missing.
Shafts began collapsing in the Al Zaraa mine near the town of Al Nahud in West Kordofan on Tuesday, and by the following morning 60 bodies had been retrieved.
"We don't know how many more are still inside," one of the survivors, Khair Al Sayyed Jabara, told AFP after an all-night rescue operation with fellow miners, using the same rudimentary tools they use to mine.
"Everyone's working very hard to retrieve the bodies or any survivors, but it's difficult. We need heavy machinery to clear the rock and soil."
Artisanal and small-scale mining, which takes place in decommissioned mines or unofficial zones like Al Zaraa, accounts for the majority of gold extracted in Sudan.
Artisanal mining employs more than two million people in Sudan, according to industry figures.
Sudan is one of Africa's leading gold producers and recorded a "five-year high" of 70 tonnes of production last year, it said. But officials say most of the gold is smuggled across Sudan's borders.
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