Sudan’s gold industry has become the lifeblood of its war, with nearly all of the trade channelled through the United Arab Emirates, enriching both the army and paramilitaries, according to official and NGO sources.
The two-year conflict has decimated Sudan’s economy, yet last month the army-backed government announced record gold production in 2024.
Demand for the country’s vast gold reserves was “a key factor in prolonging the war,” Sudanese economist Abdelazim al-Amawy told AFP.
“To solve the war in Sudan, we have to follow the gold, and we arrive at the UAE,” said Marc Ummel, a researcher with development organisation Swissaid who tracks African gold smuggling to the Gulf country.
In a statement to AFP, a UAE official rejected “any baseless and unfounded allegation regarding the smuggling or profiting of gold”.
But according to Sudanese officials, mining industry sources and Swissaid’s research, nearly all of Sudan’s gold flows to the UAE, via official trade routes, smuggling and direct Emirati ownership of the government’s currently most lucrative mine.
In February, the state-owned Sudan Mineral Resources Company said gold production reached 64 tonnes in 2024, up from 41.8 tonnes in 2022.
Legal exports brought $1.57 billion into the state’s depleted coffers, central bank figures show.
But “nearly half of the state’s production is smuggled across borders,” SMRC director Mohammed Taher told AFP from Port Sudan.
Nearly 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) away, on Sudan’s borders with South Sudan and the Central African Republic, lie the mines controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Much of the gold produced by both sides is smuggled to Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, before reaching the UAE, according to mining industry sources and experts.
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