Gulf state increases gold imports from war-torn Sudan

TT

Published 18.49

 

Photo from a jeweler's shop at a gold market in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The photo was taken in April this year. Photo: Altaf Qadri/AP/TT

Last year, the United Arab Emirates increased its imports of gold from the severely war-torn Sudan by 70 percent.

The Gulf state has repeatedly been singled out as one of the main sponsors behind the paramilitary RSF.

According to new statistics from the aid organization Swissaid, gold imports between Sudan and the United Arab Emirates grew from 17 tons to 29 tons between 2023 and 2024. The statistics were published at the end of October on the UN database Comtrade, but have since been taken down.

The war in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which broke out in April 2023, has led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with millions of people displaced from their homes and tens of thousands killed.

The UN and a number of other organizations have repeatedly accused Abu Dhabi of supplying the RSF with weapons and drones, something the Gulf state has denied.

In addition to Sudan, the United Arab Emirates also imported 18 tons of gold from Chad and nine tons from Libya – states that Swissaid describes as "transit countries" for RSF-controlled gold.

"These patterns and flows confirm the role of the United Arab Emirates as a prominent destination for smuggled Sudanese gold," the aid organization writes.