South Sudan, Sudan lose millions to UAE in illegal gold trade

JUBA – South Sudan and Sudan are losing hundreds of millions of dollars every year to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through a booming illegal gold trade driven by smugglers, corrupt officials, foreign traders and armed groups, new reports by an international watchdog reveal.

The reports, released by SWISSAID on November 21, 2025, and November 04, 2025, titled African Gold Report: South Sudan and United Arab Emirates: More Than Ever a Hub for Conflict Gold, respectively, provide some of the most detailed assessments yet of how the mineral wealth from the two countries are being siphoned off with almost no benefit to the citizens.

South Sudan, despite being a medium-sized gold producer by African standards, the report notes that the country has no official export records, no nationwide production statistics, and barely any government oversight, estimating that at least five tonnes of gold—valued at more than USD 270 million annually—are smuggled out of the country, mostly destined for the UAE.

The report underscores the extent of institutional collapse within the mining sector. The Ministry of Mining could not provide official production figures and admits that all gold produced in the country leaves through informal or illegal routes.

Multiple armed groups—including the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition, the National Salvation Front and the National Security Service—are said to control mining sites, tax artisanal miners, and facilitate smuggling networks in collusion with political elites and security agencies.

Yet the UAE’s official import figures tell only a fraction of the story. According to UN Comtrade data, the Emirates imported gold worth USD 20 million from South Sudan in 2022 and USD 27 million in 2023—numbers far below the estimated volumes leaving the country. This gap, the report argues, reflects the massive scale of undocumented gold flows.

The UAE’s role in the illicit trade extends well beyond South Sudan’s borders. The new findings reinforce growing accusations by UN panels, Global Witness and other advocacy groups that Dubai has become a global hub for conflict gold, benefiting from lax import controls that allow smuggled minerals to enter the international market with ease.

This regional picture is most evident in neighbouring Sudan, where war between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has fueled a parallel gold smuggling economy.

South Sudan has increasingly become a transit route for Sudanese gold, which is transported by networks linked to the RSF and elements of Ugandan security forces before being flown to Dubai. UAE imports from Sudan rose from 17 tonnes in 2023 to 29 tonnes in 2024.

Official UAE data put the value of its 2024 gold imports from Sudan at USD 1.97 billion, though watchdog groups say the real figure is far higher due to extensive smuggling.

Back home, South Sudan’s mining governance remains extremely weak. The country is not a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), has failed to publish production data, and has issued almost no export certificates since 2019.

Government-set gold prices are uncompetitive, pushing miners to sell to foreign traders—many from Kenya, Uganda, China and the Middle East—who offer better rates on the black market. Minimal border controls and widespread collusion among officials further entrench the illicit trade.

The result is the systematic “plunder” of South Sudan’s mineral wealth by armed groups, corrupt elites and foreign actors, leaving artisanal miners impoverished and the state deprived of one of its most promising revenue streams. Without urgent reforms to strengthen governance, formalize artisanal mining and enforce transparency, the country will continue losing millions to destinations like the UAE while communities sink deeper into poverty.

The country’s Transitional National Legislative Assembly is currently scrutinizing the Mining Act 2012 Amendment Bill 2025, which seeks to align the sector with the 2018 peace agreement and the constitution. The bill proposes establishing new regulatory bodies—the South Sudan Geological Survey Agency and a Mining Authority—and strengthening licensing procedures. It has been referred to the parliamentary Committee on Mining for detailed review.

Both South Sudan and Sudan are members of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), a regional body that works to combat the illegal trade of minerals through regional cooperation and policy. Key initiatives include adopting a unified regional certification system for minerals and implementing a Regional Certification Mechanism (RCM) to track minerals from mine to export, and improving data management to make the supply chain more transparent and legitimate.

But despite several forums across member states, with the most recent one being in the Democratic Republic of Congo in November 2025, very little has been done in tackling mineral smuggling. Some member states remain the transit routes for illegal mineral trading.