Informal gold prospecting in southern Egypt is heading into a new phase after a broad meeting on Thursday brought together representatives of tribes and families from Aswan, Halayeb, Shalateen and Marsa Alam to discuss how to regularise the status of the prospectors, known locally as “dahhaba”, and organise their work under state supervision.
The meeting was called by Eng. Ibrahim El-Argany, head of the Union of Egyptian Tribes and Families, as part of presidential directives to address the issue, according to participants.
Senator Ahmed El-Hamamsy, a member of the Senate’s Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for the National Front Party, said in a statement on Friday that regularisation “strikes a balance between enforcing the law and protecting the rights of the people of southern Egypt”, while maximising the state’s benefit from its mineral wealth.
He said the proposed approach goes beyond the legal side to take into account the economic and social conditions of workers in the sector, as part of the social fabric of the south, and to offer a legal route that keeps their livelihoods going and protects their rights.
According to participants, the aim is to bring prospecting under the applicable rules and conditions, limit the waste of resources, improve the management of mineral wealth and turn the activity into organised, safe jobs.
Details of the implementation framework, and which bodies will issue licences, have not yet been announced and are expected in the coming period.
Source: Al-Ahram Gate, official statements
