Sudan – A UN report reveals how the war economy fuels conflict and undermines human rights

Summary of the international report

🔹Exploitation of natural resources and trade routes finances the continuation of the war in Sudan.

🔹The gum arabic trade as an example of the link between global supply chains and the war economy.

🔹Workers in the gum arabic sector face threats, arbitrary detention, looting and extortion, with their livelihoods damaged.

🔹The conflict has reshaped the trade routes of gum arabic, with quantities being smuggled through neighboring countries and re-exported, making it difficult to trace their origin.

🔹The United Nations urges countries and companies to strengthen traceability of origin, conduct human rights due diligence, and prevent trade from contributing to financing conflict.

Sudan’s wealth should serve its people, not war

As the cost of continuing military operations increased, the report stated that both sides of the conflict relied on controlling land, trade routes and goods and exploiting them to generate revenues, which contributed to what the report described as “an increasingly self-perpetuating conflict.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said: “Sudan’s enormous wealth of natural resources should benefit its people. Unfortunately, what we are witnessing today is exactly the opposite. In fact, this wealth is currently being used only to undermine human rights and fuel conflict, bringing pain and suffering on a massive scale.”

He added: “This war economy must be disrupted, and the international community must pay much greater attention to the goods and trade routes that help keep it afloat.”

Specifically, the report examines the trade in gum arabic – a key ingredient in products such as soft drinks, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products – as a case study illustrating the negative impacts of Sudan’s war economy on human rights.

Although the value of gum arabic exports is relatively lower compared to other commodities, it remains one of the Sudanese exports that the world relies on on a large scale. Before the outbreak of the conflict, Sudan accounted for about 70% to 80% of global exports of raw gum arabic.

Violations targeting workers in the gum arabic sector

Gum arabic remains an important source of income for millions of Sudanese. However, the report finds that many individuals and families dependent on or linked to the gum arabic trade have in many cases faced threats to their physical safety, arbitrary detention, looting and extortion, including as a result of actions committed by parties to the conflict and their associated actors.

Widespread looting and disruptions to the gum arabic value chain resulting from the conflict have also negatively impacted the livelihoods and working conditions of individuals working in it. In May 2025, for example, the RSF reportedly looted the gum arabic exchange and its warehouses, along with parts of the large market in the city of Nahud in West Kordofan State, at a time when stocks were full and ready for export, disrupting local trade and damaging livelihoods associated with the sector.

Since the outbreak of conflict in 2023, the gum arabic trade has been increasingly reshaped as a result of fragmented territorial control, with some quantities transferred from SAF-controlled areas to Port Sudan for export, while significant quantities from RSF-controlled areas were redirected via cross-border smuggling routes to neighboring countries.

The responsibility of states and companies to prevent conflict financing

The report points out the role played by neighboring countries and transit countries in continuing the transfer of Sudanese gum arabic. He warns that this gum may enter customs or commercial channels for export, and in some cases it may be treated, documented, or traded as a local product, which makes it difficult to verify its origin.

The High Commissioner stressed that international human rights law and international humanitarian law, along with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, provide a framework for action.

He urged countries and companies associated with the trade in Sudanese goods, including gum arabic, to take more resolute measures to ensure that trade and export practices do not contribute to causing negative impacts on human rights or perpetuating the conflict.

He also called on countries to strengthen accountability, traceability and regulatory oversight, and provide redress. He also urged companies to act in line with their responsibility to respect human rights.

Volker Türk said: “Businesses cannot continue business as usual when sourcing from conflict-affected value chains. Rather, they must conduct enhanced human rights-sensitive, conflict-sensitive due diligence, including greater scrutiny of transport routes, intermediaries, means and potential relabeling of products, and ensuring that affected people have access to safe and effective complaints mechanisms and answers.”