Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warns that Sudan's ongoing conflict is being financed by the looting of gum arabic and gold. Sudan's natural resources, including gum arabic from acacia trees, are exploited by warring parties to sustain the war economy, causing widespread human rights violations and suffering, according to OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
Gum arabic, used in food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, is a crucial income source for around five million Sudanese. However, traders in the gum arabic trade have faced threats, arbitrary detention, looting, and extortion by armed groups. Trade corridors passing through regions controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expose merchants to confiscations, informal taxation, and insecurity. Smuggling routes also reach Chad, South Sudan, Kenya, Libya, and Egypt.
Before the conflict's outbreak in April 2023, Sudan supplied about 70 to 80 percent of the world’s crude gum arabic exports, worth up to $183 million annually. The RSF militia has reportedly looted stocks from a major trading center in El-Nuhud, West Kordofan, redirecting goods toward Darfur and Chad in 2025. Despite ongoing violence and risks, Sudan remains a significant global gum arabic supplier.
OHCHR calls for disruption of the war economy and urges the international community to focus on commodities and trade routes that finance the conflict in Sudan.