Two Sahrawi gold miners, including the son of self-proclaimed separatist “minister” Majidi Adda Brahim Hmaim, were killed east of the Dakhla camp by an Algerian drone strike on Tuesday, according to Barlamane sources.
Gold miners labor with zero security restrictions are frequently targeted by the Algerian army as arbitrary murders.
In September 2016, Majidi Adda Brahim Hmaim’s name came up in a case of international drug trafficking, after the Moroccan army dismantled a large-scale criminal element located southwest of Boujdour, where 500 kilograms of cannabis resin had been seized at the time.
Relatively lucrative gold-panning sites in Tindouf are regularly the scene of targeted assassinations, as Algerian authorities struggle to control artisanal metal mining. In February, several people in southwest Tindouf were killed in cold blood after a deadly chase.