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 actors gradually became involved, and even the propaganda and disinformation campaigns of the infamous Russian Wagner Group seem ultimately to stem from the rhetoric of Afewerki and his lobbyists.

This violently anti-Western rhetoric was injected into a pan-Africanist discourse to become an ideological and rhetorical toolbox. It was used to prevent any intervention on behalf of Eritreans trapped in their own country or Tigrayans targeted for genocide in neighboring Ethiopia. It was employed to legitimize new conflicts throughout the Sahel and the rest of Africa's notorious “Coup Belt.” And ultimately, it took on even wider global dimensions with regard to the ongoing crisis around the Red Sea ports, which Eritrea controls, and with regard to the question of the influence of the Gulf States in the Horn of Africa.

Engaging, powerful, and urgently relevant. A meticulously researched and unflinchingly critical investigation, Eritrea’s Gold Rush reveals the intricate web of actors enabling authoritarianism through resource extraction. An essential contribution to the study of global political economy and state violence. Unputdownable and unforgettable. Eritrea’s Gold Rush uncovers the dark underbelly of the international gold mining industry—and how it helps sustain one of the world’s most brutal regimes. With the pace of a thriller and the depth of investigative journalism, this urgent and meticulously researched book reveals how mining giants, diplomats, lobbyists, and warlords converge in a high-stakes game for control of Eritrea’s vast mineral wealth. With vivid detail and compelling narrative, the book draws striking connections between a cast of enablers—from the UN Secretary-General to African warlords, ruthless Canadian mining executives, Chinese investors, and academics-turned-lobbyists—all playing roles in whitewashing and shielding one of the world’s most repressive governments for the sake of profit. Unflinching and illuminating, Eritrea’s Gold Rush is a damning portrait of how global greed perpetuates oppression—and why no one, in the end, remains untouched. * Kjetil Tronvoll, professor of conflict and peace studies, Oslo New University, Norway *
A timely and incisive work, this groundbreaking volume deftly explores the interconnection between extractive industries, and geopolitical turbulence and violence in the Horn of Africa. Charlotte Touati offers a compelling, historically grounded analysis that illuminates the global stakes—from resource politics to monetary realignments—reshaping power dynamics and state behaviors in this critical region. * Teklehaymanot Weldemichel, lecturer, University of Manchester, UK *

Charlotte Touati is a philologist and Ge’ez language translator who has spent many years in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Her research extends to transnational criminality, including illegal mining and human and cultural trafficking, in the Horn of Africa. She has carried out extensive work in support of victims of wartime rape in Tigray.