A merchant pointing out bangles made from the product of nearby mines in the gold market of Omdurman, Sudan in this 2022 file photo. Famine and ethnic cleansing stalk Sudan. Yet the gold trade is booming, enriching generals and propelling the fight. — Photos: ©2025 The New York Times Company
AS Sudan’s cities burn and millions flee their homes, a clandestine gold trade is fuelling the conflict and enriching foreign powers.
In March, a luxury jet touched down in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, on a covert mission to transport illicit gold.
The cargo, worth US$25mil, was smuggled from Sudan’s Darfur – a region devastated by famine and violence, largely controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Porters loaded the cases as airport officials discreetly kept watch. Ninety minutes later, the plane took off, landing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the gold vanished into the global market.
A looted home in Omdurman, the western part of Sudan’s capital. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
A destroyed Al-Shaabi market in Omdurman, Sudan.
Gold’s role in civil war
The RSF, led by Gen Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti, seized a lucrative Darfur mine in 2017, laying the foundation for a billion-dollar empire.
This wealth helped transform the RSF into a formidable force, funding weapons and influence that ultimately led to a standoff with Sudan’s military – and the outbreak of civil war in 2023.
As the conflict escalated, the RSF recaptured the mine it had sold to the government and raided the national gold refinery, stealing US$150mil in gold bars.
Meanwhile, the military bombed RSF-controlled mines and sought foreign partners to ramp up production in areas under its control.
“Gold is destroying Sudan and its people,” says Suliman Baldo, an expert on Sudan’s resources.
Famine and ethnic cleansing stalk Sudan. Yet the gold trade is booming, enriching generals and propelling the fight.
Foreign powers fuel conflict
Sudan’s gold trade has drawn foreign sponsors who play both sides of the war.
Russia’s Wagner Group, long involved in Sudan, partnered with both the RSF and the military before its leader’s death. Now under Kremlin control, Wagner continues its gold operations on both sides of the front line.
The UAE’s involvement is equally complex.
While supplying drones and missiles to the RSF, Emirati firms also profit from gold mined in government-controlled territories.
One such operation, the Kush mine, generates millions for Sudan’s wartime authorities. The mine’s owners? Emiral Resources, backed by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser.
“The Emirates is arming one side and funding the other,” notes a US official.
Despite concerns raised by the Biden administration, the UAE’s gold ambitions remain unchecked.
Gold smuggling network
The RSF’s gold finds a ready market in the UAE, where an estimated 2,500 tonnes of undeclared African gold worth US$115bil were smuggled between 2012 and 2022, according to Swiss Aid.
With Sudan’s main airport destroyed, smugglers now use neighbouring countries, like the March operation in Juba. Among those involved was a relative of Hemedti and a senior Ugandan intelligence officer – highlighting the intricate web of officials facilitating the trade.
In Uganda, the Treasury Department sanctioned a gold refinery near the main airport, accusing it of laundering conflict gold.
“It’s the epicentre of gold laundering in Africa,” says JR Mailey of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.
Sudanese soldiers drive through a destroyed market in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.
Fortune built on blood
The RSF controls every aspect of the gold trade in Darfur, from extraction to smuggling.
This shadowy empire traces back to 2017, when Hemedti’s forces seized a major mine and channelled profits into a network of 50 companies.
One of these, Al Junaid, was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for funding weapons and fighters.
The military, too, relies on gold to sustain its war effort.
Industrial mines like Kush churn out the precious metal, generating income that fuels continued violence.
Yet Sudan’s leaders often lack clarity over who controls these resources. The Kush mine, initially linked to Russian executives, turned out to be owned by Emirati investors, underscoring the murky alliances sustaining the conflict.
A war without end
Even if foreign sponsors withdrew, Sudan’s warring factions could continue financing the conflict through gold.
In the first year of war alone, Sudan produced over 50 tonnes of gold – more than during the previous year of peace.
For now, the lucrative trade ensures the fighting rages on, leaving millions displaced and a nation in ruins.
Gold, Sudan’s most precious resource, has become its greatest curse. — ©2025 The New York Times Company
