STPT’s Executive Director Suliman Baldo and Chatham House Senior Researcher Ahmed Soliman co-authored this paper, published by Chatham House.
The gold trade connects Sudan’s civil war to the wider region and highlights the roles that commodities play in perpetuating violent conflict. Even before the start of the civil war in 2023, Sudan’s main warring parties – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – were in competition for the country’s natural resources. In fact, the fight to control gold assets was one of the drivers of the conflict.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) makes up the majority of the gold that Sudan produces, most of which ends up in the UAE, either directly or indirectly via neighbouring countries including Chad, Egypt, Eritrea and South Sudan. The UAE and Egypt have significant influence and support opposing parties to the civil war. While both countries benefit in the short term from the gold trade, further fragmentation of Sudan will be detrimental to their long-term goals in the Horn of Africa and Red Sea region. These external actors are key to achieving a sustainable peace in Sudan, but this will require a regional approach and the establishment of an effective international coalition.
