Guinea expels 1,557 West African miners after Siguiri crackdown
A 44-vehicle convoy took the convicted miners to the Malian border as the government enforces a ban on artisanal gold digging it says is ruining farmland and rivers.
Guinea has expelled 1,557 West African nationals convicted of illegal gold mining, judicial and security sources told Agence France-Presse, in the biggest single removal since the military government banned artisanal digging in its northeastern gold belt.
A convoy of 44 vehicles carrying the detainees reached Kouremale, a town on the border with Mali, on Saturday, a day after leaving the capital Conakry, the sources said. Most of those expelled were from Burkina Faso and Mali. They had been arrested at mining sites in several parts of the country, sentenced to between 18 months and two years in prison, and then released for deportation.
The expulsions follow a ban on artisanal gold mining in Siguiri district declared on 2 November. Authorities said unregulated digging had degraded farmland, rivers and vegetation. Defence and security forces were deployed to enforce the ban, and the government has stepped up operations since the start of the month.
On Wednesday, violence broke out in Siguiri as security forces checked compliance with the ban. The Ministry of Territorial Administration said in a statement late on Thursday that ten people, including five foreign nationals, were killed and 13 injured, giving provisional figures. The ministry said protesters had erected barricades on public roads and that shots were exchanged. It did not give the nationalities of the foreign dead.
Guinea's main opposition grouping said on Saturday that the deaths showed an "authoritarian drift" and accused the government of using force "as a method of government". Guinea has been led by a transitional administration under President Mamadi Doumbouya since the 2021 takeover.
The crackdown has pushed large numbers of West Africans out of the country. Mali said about 100,000 of its citizens had arrived in Bamako and nearly 60,000 more in Kouremale after being forced to leave Guinea. Burkina Faso said on Friday it had repatriated 45,406 of its citizens.
Artisanal mining draws workers from across West Africa, many of them fleeing poverty and conflict, and Guinea is among the region's biggest sources of gold and bauxite. France 24 reported that the trial of about 1,200 people accused of illegal gold mining opened in Conakry on Thursday, 12 November, and Africanews reported a trial of more than 1,200 people in the capital, days after the Siguiri deaths.
How the reports differ
France 24 and Africanews both led with the court proceedings in Conakry, reporting that more than 1,200 people accused of illegal gold mining went on trial on 12 November; the AFP account carried by Punch led instead with the 1,557 people already convicted and put on the road to Mali. Arab News led with the Ministry of Territorial Administration's statement and gave details the others did not: that five of the ten dead were foreign nationals, that 13 people were injured, and that protesters built barricades before shots were fired. Arab News also alone carried the figures from neighbouring governments, with Mali reporting about 100,000 arrivals in Bamako and nearly 60,000 in Kouremale and Burkina Faso reporting 45,406 citizens repatriated. Punch alone reported the opposition's accusation of an "authoritarian drift".
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