Sudan miners say Egypt detains $8m worth of equipment

A committee representing Sudanese miners who returned from Egypt after five months of detention in 2015 said the Egyptian authorities have not handed over $8 million worth of their property, the Sudan Tribune reported.

The site quoted the head of the committee, Suleiman Ahmed Markaz, as saying that the Egyptian government did not fulfil its obligation to return the miners’ property, despite the issuance of several decisions all for their return.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is reported to have issued a decree to return the equipment, however, the army, which is holding them, handed over only six cars.

The items include metal detectors, locators, Thuraya cell phones, modern compass devices, as well as quantities of gold ore, cars and power generators.

In August 2015, Egyptian authorities released dozens of Sudanese miners after holding them for five months on charges of crossing the border illegally. The miners were released under a presidential pardon in response to a similar decision by the Sudanese presidency to release 100 Egyptian fishermen detained by the Sudanese authorities on charges of violating Sudanese territorial waters in the Red Sea.

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