UN Warns: Looted Gold and Gum Arabic Fuel Sudan’s Conflict

In an alert issued on Wednesday, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, exposed how conflicting factions in Sudan have plundered gum arabic and manipulated trade networks to finance the ongoing war.

“Sudan’s natural resources ought to uplift its citizens. Regrettably, the current reality falls far short of this ideal,” stated OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani. “This exploitation is exacerbating human rights violations and deepening the crisis, causing widespread hardship.”

Key Implications

• All parties involved in the conflict benefit from gum arabic exports
• Commodity trafficking linked to arbitrary detentions and other violations
• Gum arabic is used in food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics
• Smuggling corridors span Chad, South Sudan, Kenya, Libya, and Egypt

Gum arabic sustains approximately five million Sudanese individuals, with harvesting in conflict zones often tied to systemic human rights abuses under international law.

Strategic Target

Prior to the 2023 conflict, Sudan dominated 70-80% of global crude gum arabic exports, with annual shipments valued up to $183 million. This made it a critical asset for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are alleged to have stolen stocks from El-Nuhud’s trading hub in West Kordofan and rerouted them westward to Darfur and Chad in May 2025.

Despite the conflict, Sudan remains a major global supplier of gum arabic, though the trade is fraught with human rights risks, as highlighted by OHCHR.

“This violent economy must be halted, and the international community cannot ignore the commodities and corridors sustaining it,” Ms. Shamdasani emphasized.

High-Risk Zone

The OHCHR report reveals that Sudanese traders dependent on or connected to the gum arabic trade face harassment, arbitrary imprisonment, looting, and extortion by opposing forces and their allies.

Merchants using routes through RSF-controlled areas in Darfur and Kordofan encounter confiscations, arbitrary taxes, and insecurity. Along safer northern and eastern corridors toward Port Sudan and Eastern Sudan, traders face numerous checkpoints, formal and informal fees, and cross-border smuggling, per the report.

Before the conflict, production centered on the “gum belt”—including Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, White Nile, Sennar, and Gedaref states—where smallholders and nomadic groups relied on harvesting for seasonal income.

Shifting Pathways

The report indicates that “significant volumes” of gum arabic have been diverted by the RSF in West Kordofan and parts of Darfur toward Souq al-Na‘am, a buffer zone between Sudan and South Sudan, then deeper into South Sudan, Juba, and onward to Mombasa port in Kenya.

Alternative paths have also emerged, including routes to Chad and onward to Douala port in Cameroon, where the gum is rebranded before export and processing.

UN-backed experts have previously noted how looted gum arabic was transported to Chad, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. “The RSF’s widespread plunder of gum arabic served as soldier compensation in lieu of wages,” with at least 3,700 tonnes stolen between January and June 2024.

Precious Metal Profits

Gum arabic is not the sole revenue driver; gold sales are a “critical income source” for both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, according to the OHCHR report.

In 2024, declared gold output in SAF-controlled zones reached approximately 65 tonnes, with 28 tonnes officially exported via Port Sudan, valued at around $1.6 billion—nearly 48.5% of Sudan’s total exports.

However, reports indicate that nearly 48% of Sudan’s 2024 gold production was smuggled abroad. No data exists for RSF-controlled regions, though extraction in Darfur and Kordofan—including Jebel Amer in North Darfur, Songo in South Darfur, and Talodi in South Kordofan—is likely ongoing.

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