OMDURMAN – Sudan’s Supreme Council for Sufism has condemned an airstrike on Sudanese miners in Shamal Al-Wadi, urging the government to investigate the attack and protect miners.
Professor Abdelgabar Al-Sheikh Billal, the council’s secretary-general, said the miners were civilians working to earn a living under difficult conditions.
“These miners are not criminals; they are poor people seeking a livelihood from beneath the earth,” Billal said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
He called on the Sudanese government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant authorities to establish the circumstances of the attack and protect the rights of those killed and their families.
“The blood of Sudanese people is precious, and the dignity of a Sudanese citizen anywhere in the world is part of the dignity of the entire Sudanese state,” Billal said.
The council did not give a death toll or identify those responsible for the airstrike.
Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese rights group, reported that at least 72 civilians were killed and accused the Egyptian military of carrying out the attack. The casualty figure and allegation have not been independently verified.
Billal said the council wanted to protect lives without damaging relations between Sudan and Egypt. It called for good neighbourly relations between the two countries to be maintained.