Eritrea's Gold Rush: Western Mining Companies, Regional Wars, and Human Rights Abuses in Africa

Leading Horn of Africa expert Charlotte Touati exposes the role played by Canadian gold mining company Nevsun and other global actors in propping up the regime of Isayas Aferwerki, one of Africa’s most dangerous dictators.In the process, Touati shows how global capital networks help perpetuate economic and political instability in the Horn of Africa, which in turn is fostering violence and volatility throughout other parts of the world.Using a narrative framework and a core cast of characters to help guide non-specialist readers through her findings, Touati explains the enormous significance of how Nevsun partnered with Aferwerki to open the Bisha gold mine and save his regime from bankruptcy.When Eritrean refugees later claimed they were “conscripted” to work in the mines without pay and abused as part of their National Service, Nevsun hired lobbyists to defend Eritrea’s actions and cast the very notion of human rights as a Western “Trojan horse.” Australian, Chinese, and Russian acto