On Tuesday, the Algerian army fatally shot two Sahrawis from the Tindouf camps and left a third seriously injured. According to a source familiar with the matter, the victims were caught searching for gold on Algerian soil when army patrols opened fire without hesitation. The Polisario leadership and its affiliated media have so far remained silent on this incident. This attack on Sahrawi gold miners is not an isolated occurrence. The Algerian military has a history of using lethal force against these prospectors. Last April, troops from Algeria's eastern border killed at least two miners and injured several others in the Tindouf area. In April 2024, Algerian forces had already killed three Sahrawi gold miners. Additionally, in October 2020, two residents of the Tindouf camps were burned alive by the Algerian military as they dug a well about seven meters deep in search of the precious metal. Gold mining remains one of the few means of survival for impoverished Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps who refuse to join the Polisario's armed militias. Alongside drug trafficking and joining terrorist groups in the Sahel, it represents one of the limited avenues for escaping poverty.
