URGENT ALERT AND STATEMENT Sudanese Declaration of Principles Forces

The Sudanese Declaration of Principles Forces have followed with grave concern the statement of the Egyptian Armed Forces’ military spokesperson. It announced the start of the fourth phase of a new military campaign targeting poor Sudanese miners, beginning tomorrow, Saturday 7 November, in coordination with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) authorities, under the banner of “pursuing gold and infiltration gangs.”

This announcement cannot be separated from blood that has not yet dried. In our statement of 12 October 2026 (With the Authorities’ Humiliation, the Blood of the Miners Is a Trust Upon the Nation’s Conscience), we addressed the airstrikes confirmed on 10 October on the Al-Aqidat mine area in the Red Sea State, in which more than two hundred miners were reportedly killed. We also recalled the 16 June strikes on Jebel Al-Aqidat, which the Egyptian air force was accused of carrying out. No investigation or accountability has been announced in either case. Today a new campaign is announced against the same innocent people, while the wound remains open.

Accordingly, we state the following:
First: We warn that traditional miners are unarmed civilians who go out to dig the earth in search of a dignified livelihood. Describing them as “gangs” and “criminal elements,” together with the statement’s references to the removal of 4,488 tents and huts and the arrest of hundreds of foreigners, raises serious concern for the fate of people whose only fault is poverty and war.

Second : We take issue with the statement’s claim that operations are conducted inside Egyptian territory without targeting any civilian objectives. According to reports and the testimonies of survivors, the earlier strikes carried out by the Egyptian air force took place inside Sudanese territory. We call for an independent international investigation to settle this question.

Third : We express serious concern that the issue of Sudanese miners inside their own country may become a pretext and a fait accompli for the expansion of Egyptian forces into further Sudanese territory. This comes at a time when dozens of reports describe the plunder of Sudan’s natural resources since the start of the war, foremost among them gold, through organized Sudanese-Egyptian looting cartels. While the poor, ordinary Sudanese miner is pursued with bullets and aerial bombardment, these allegations remain in need of a transparent investigation that identifies the true beneficiaries of this plunder. We affirm that the areas where traditional miners work are an integral part of the Sudan and must not become zones of operation for a foreign force under any label, whether “combating smuggling” or “securing borders.” The announced Egyptian “coordination” with Sudanese authorities that hold neither mandate nor legitimacy gives no one the right to dispose of Sudanese land. We recall that Halayeb and Shalateen have for years remained disputed territory under Egyptian occupation and outside Sudanese control, and that silence on such matters invites their repetition.

Fourth : We affirm that the fall of more innocent Sudanese civilians at the hands of Egyptian forces, and the collusion of the SAF authorities in Khartoum, will be met with political and diplomatic escalation by Sudanese civilian forces, at the African Union, the League of Arab States, the United Nations, and before international human rights mechanisms.

Fifth : We hold the SAF authorities responsible for a dual failure: dereliction of their duty to protect the borders and safeguard sovereignty, and the responsibility of silence over the strikes that have occurred and those that will occur, in light of the latest Egyptian threat. Their earlier statement named no attacking party and took no declared sovereign position, and their coordination today with the party against which accusations of attack have been directed makes them a partner in what will follow. Sovereignty is a responsibility measured by the protection of people and land, not a slogan raised from podiums.

Sixth: We affirm that the demand for accountability for the strikes of 16 June and 10 October will remain standing, and will remain a burden upon both the Egyptian authorities and the SAF authorities in Khartoum. It will not lapse with time, nor be cancelled by security coordination between them. This warning is issued to shed light on a third crime that has been announced in advance. Truth and justice can be achieved only through independent and impartial international investigation committees into the crimes committed against our unarmed, innocent citizens.

Finally, we call on all Sudanese national forces, whether political, civil, youth, or humanitarian, to stand united in defense of the sons of the Sudan among the miners and in protection of national sovereignty, and to refuse to see our homeland carved away inch by inch, a second, third, and fourth time. History is merciless toward those who stayed silent while the land was being violated and national dignity was being humiliated.