Ruées vers l’or au Soudan, au Tchad et au Sahel : logiques étatiques, mobilités et contrôle territorial

Abstract

This article describes and analyses the gold rushes that have affected the Sahel and the Sahara in recent years. It focuses on the forms and factors of panning, and then on the dithering of State policies: Governments are indeed hesitating between the temptation to ban these forms of artisanal mining, particularly for security reasons, and the interest to control them in order to integrate them into their rent-seeking strategies. The text then questions the territorial implications of attempts at the state organisation of this mobile activity. The analysis is based in particular on case studies provided by field research by authors in Sudan, Chad and Mauritania.

Keywords

• Gold panning
• Sudan
• Chad
• Sahel
• Territorial dynamics
• State regulation