Published on: 2026-07-15
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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July 15, 2026 Peace and Security
In addition to gold, the conflict in Sudan also fuels a lesser-known commodity – gum arabic (or acacia gum), used in the production of soft drinks, food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. On Wednesday, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that the opposing sides in Sudan are looting gum arabic stocks and changing trade routes to direct the proceeds towards continuing the war.
“Sudan’s vast natural wealth must benefit its people. Unfortunately, today we see exactly the opposite,” said UNHCR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani. According to her, these riches only fuel the conflict, causing pain and suffering on a massive scale.
Across the country, gum arabic provides a source of income for approximately five million people. It is collected from the stems and branches of acacia trees in areas most affected by the conflict, where serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights norms have been recorded.
A tempting target
© Adobe Stock/E. Moiseeva Gum arabic is a water-soluble gum obtained from several species of acacia.
Before the war began in April 2023, the country accounted for 70 to 80 percent of the world’s raw gum arabic exports, and the annual revenue from its sales reached 183 million dollars. This made the product a coveted prize for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are believed to have taken gum arabic stocks from a major trading hub in Ennuhud, West Kordofan state, and transported them westward in May 2025 to Darfur and Chad.
Despite the conflict and the serious human rights risks noted by the UNHRC, Sudan still provides a significant share of the world’s gum arabic supplies.
“This militarized economy must be stopped, and the international community must pay much closer attention to the goods and trade routes that keep it afloat,” Shamdasani emphasized.
Risk zone
According to a new report by the UNHCR, many residents of Sudan involved in the gum arabic trade have faced threats, arbitrary detentions, robberies, and extortion from opposing sides and their allies.
Traders using routes through SBR-controlled areas of Darfur and Kordofan in the west and center of the country face confiscation of goods, unofficial levies, and an unsafe environment. On the more secure northern and eastern routes leading to Port Sudan and the Northern State, the situation is complicated by numerous checkpoints, as well as, noted in the report, official and unofficial charges and cases of smuggling goods across the border.
Before the conflict, the production of gum arabic was concentrated in the region including Kordofan and Darfur, as well as the states of Blue Nile, White Nile, Sennar, and Gedaref, where harvesting served as an important source of off-season income for small landowners and semi-nomadic farmers.
Compensation for fighters
The report notes that significant shipments of gum arabic are smuggled by the SBR from West Kordofan and parts of Darfur towards Sukh el-Naama – a demilitarized zone on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, and from there deeper into South Sudan, to Juba and further to the port of Mombasa in Kenya.
Alternative routes have also appeared – in particular, through Chad to the Cameroonian port of Douala and the points where gum arabic is relabeled before export and processing.
Experts appointed by the UN Security Council had previously documented how looted gum arabic was transported along routes leading to Chad, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. According to their data, the mass looting of gum arabic stocks by the RMR forces was used as a form of compensation for fighters in the absence of salaries: at least 3,700 tons were taken out from January to June 2024.
Golden gift
Along with gum arabic, gold sales remain an important source for sustaining the conflict in Sudan. According to the authors of the UNHCR report, it is the main source of income both for the Sudanese Armed Forces and for the Rapid Support Forces.
In 2024, the officially declared gold production in territories controlled by government forces amounted to about 65 tons, of which about 28 tons were officially exported through Port Sudan for approximately 1.6 billion dollars – this is about 48.5 percent of all Sudanese exports.
At the same time, according to reports and official statements, about 48 percent of the gold mined in Sudan in 2024 was smuggled out of the country, the UNHCR report notes. There is no data on gold mining in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, but this precious metal is likely still being extracted and sold in the mining regions of Darfur and Kordofan, including Jebel Amir in northern Darfur, Songo in southern Darfur, and Talodi in South Kordofan.
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