UAE Profiting from Sudan’s Chaos: Gold Smuggling Fuels War and Enriches Abu Dhabi
As Sudan descends deeper into civil war, the UAE emerges as a central player in gold smuggling networks that fund armed factions, exploiting the country’s turmoil for strategic and economic gain.
Watan-Amid the chaos and civil war tearing Sudan apart, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is far from a passive observer. Instead, it ranks high among those benefiting from the country’s collapse—particularly through the gold trade, which has become a vital resource used to fund warring factions. Accusations are mounting that Abu Dhabi is exploiting the security and institutional breakdown to plunder Sudan’s resources on a massive scale.
According to credible sources—including a Financial Times report—over half of Sudan’s gold production is smuggled abroad, with the UAE and Russia topping the list of destinations.
A large portion of this smuggled gold is used to finance the ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), creating a vicious cycle of looting and conflict fueled by regional powers with no qualms about profiting from Sudan’s tragedy.
Gold as a War Engine
Estimates by the Swiss-based NGO Swissaid show Sudan produced around 80 tons of gold in the past year, worth over $6 billion—making it one of Africa’s top four gold producers. Despite the war, artisanal mining has surged, aided by a steady supply of sodium cyanide, a critical chemical in gold extraction—highlighting the paradox that war has not slowed gold mining but rather accelerated it as a source of wartime revenue.
UAE’s Role in the Smuggling Network
The UAE is not merely a destination for Sudanese gold; it plays a central role in facilitating its smuggling and monetization.
Sasha Lezhnev, a senior policy advisor at The Sentry, confirmed that most smuggled gold from Sudan ends up in the UAE. The trade operates through commercial networks and intermediary firms with vested interests in both army-held areas and RSF-controlled zones—especially through the RSF’s financial arm, Al-Junaid Corporation.
Despite U.S. sanctions against Al-Junaid since 2023, gold extraction and export continue unabated in RSF territories, directly funding the paramilitary force.
Trade records show that companies in China, Germany, and the UAE exported sodium cyanide to Sudan over the past two years—proof of ongoing logistical support for gold mining despite war and sanctions.
A Cross-Border Looting Operation
Sudan’s Ministry of Mining says gold accounts for 60% of export revenues from army-controlled zones—demonstrating that both factions rely on gold to sustain the conflict.
International watchdog C4ADS warned that unchecked chemical supply chains are prolonging the war. Program director Denise Sprimont Vasquez criticized the global failure to treat Sudan’s minerals trade as a priority in disrupting war funding.
Behind this complex web, the UAE emerges not as a neutral party but as an economic force capitalizing on chaos. Through gold-trading firms in Dubai, Abu Dhabi has built a system for purchasing conflict gold at low prices, ignoring its origins, refining it, and selling it globally—a process akin to gold laundering.
This role mirrors the UAE’s activities in other war zones like Libya and Yemen, where it has exploited internal conflicts for influence and resources.
Structural Corruption and Historical Roots
Sudanese researcher Ahmed Soliman from Chatham House noted that these gold smuggling networks predate the war, rooted in a military-economic complex that flourished long before the current conflict. The power vacuum left by a collapsing economy was quickly filled by business elites tied to both warring sides.
Soliman stressed that international efforts should target dismantling these networks—not just mitigating the war’s consequences.
A System of Plunder
In the absence of meaningful international accountability and amid Arab silence, the looting of Sudan’s wealth continues—chiefly its gold—via mechanisms that empower regional actors like the UAE.
Rather than acting as a mediator or stabilizer, Abu Dhabi has chosen to prioritize its own interests, sustaining the disorder and reducing Sudan to a raw resource provider.
Observers say that linking these profiteering activities to international political and economic pressure is the only way to curb the transnational crimes that prolong the suffering of an entire nation for the sake of a few bars of gold.
