11/08/2025
SUDAN'S WAR BACKED BY GOLD ....WHY WE MUST ALL ADDRESS OURSELVES TO MINERAL WEALTH GOVERNANCE TO AVOID A NATURAL RESOURCE CURSE AS IN SUDAN 🇸🇩
While gold has undoubtedly perpetuated violence and political instability in Sudan's civil war, this commodity also provides a way of understanding and mapping the complexities and regional drivers of this conflict.
The parties to Sudan’s devastating civil war continue to compete for control over
gold-mining assets and distribution channels to fund their efforts and reinforce
power in areas they control. The use of this commodity links the conflict to an
extensive and evolving transnational network that fuels violence and political
instability in the region. But gold may also provide a way to understand and
map these connections and demonstrate where engagement by the international
community can be most effective.
President of Kenya William Ruto & leaders of UAE are strongly accused of Funding & Arming the RSF in exchange for Gold, commiting Heinous War Crimes & genocide in Dafur Sudan
Kenyan ammunition was found in RSF controlled areas and how he is helping the movement of blood gold through Kenya.
Deposed Deputy President of Kenya Gachaqua openly accused his nemesis President William Ruto for Supporting RSF & Facilitating Arms & Gold Deals
The multi-billion-dollar trade of gold sustains and shapes Sudan’s conflict.
This commodity is the most significant source of income for the warring
parties – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces
(RSF) – feeding an associated cross-border network of actors including other
armed groups, producers, traders, smugglers and external governments.
Through gold, Sudan’s civil war is deeply intertwined with the wider region,
connecting distant geographies via networks of authority and violence that
are not confined to nation-state borders.
The US, UK, EU and other international partners and institutions, such
as the African Union and the UN, are also well placed to take tougher action
that targets Sudan’s illicit gold trade by establishing greater consequences and
deterrents for states that benefit from Sudan’s conflict gold, particularly the
UAE. However, the US’s need for strong Gulf partners and Egypt to resolve the
conflict in Gaza, or to broaden the Abraham Accords, will likely limit how far
America is prepared to push regional allies on Sudan.
A sustainable peace will depend on convincing regional states – mainly
through trade – that their economic and reputational interests are better
served by cooperating with international frameworks and strengthening
domestic gold policies.
Longer-term, following a sustainable cessation of hostilities, regional
partners should work with Sudanese authorities (at national and subnational
levels) towards the development of a responsible, sustainable gold sector,
which will be critical for the reconstruction of the country. This will include
legal and licit trade channels through neighbouring countries and the
wider region, particularly Egypt and the UAE, to curb smuggling, enhance
the livelihoods of civilians working in artisanal mining, and support the
growth of conflict-free gold markets.
Engr Olanya Olenge Tonny
Natural Resources Consulting Engineer in Great Lakes Region
