10 killed in Guinea in clashes between protesters and security forces over mining ban

Ten people were killed and 13 others injured in clashes that erupted in the Balato area of Siguiri prefecture in northeastern Guinea, during a patrol carried out by security forces to enforce the ban on artisanal gold mining, on Wednesday, according to what the Guinean Ministry of Territorial Administration announced in a statement issued on Thursday evening.

The statement explained that protesters set up barricades in front of the patrol, and the situation escalated into an exchange of gunfire, without the ministry specifying which side fired first. Among the ten dead were five foreign nationals whose identities have not yet been disclosed, while the injured included civilians and members of the security forces. Two transport trucks and a security vehicle were burned, and protesters seized a firearm and a motorcycle.

Guinean authorities had announced on 2 November a ban on artisanal mining in Siguiri, citing the severe environmental damage caused by this activity, from the pollution of farmland, rivers and vegetation cover. The authorities had arrested more than 1,200 people in the same prefecture over illegal mining earlier this month, while the first sessions of mass trials began this week.

Neighboring Mali reported last week that about 100,000 people had headed to the capital Bamako and nearly 60,000 others to the border town of Kourémalé, after they were forced to leave Guinea following the announcement of the mining ban. Burkina Faso in turn announced on Friday the deportation of 45,406 of its citizens who were forced to leave Guinea as a result of the same decision.

It is worth noting that artisanal and small-scale mining supports more than 300,000 people in Guinea, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.