The European Union has banned the purchase, import and transfer of gold from Sudan, saying the trade has become a major funding source for the country
The European Union has banned the purchase, import and transfer of gold from Sudan, saying the trade has become a major funding source for the country’s ongoing civil war.
The EU Council formally adopted the measures on July 13, alongside a ban on exporting mercury and cyanide to Sudan, chemicals essential to gold mining operations.
The decision builds on existing EU sanctions that already target individuals and groups accused of sustaining the conflict.
Sudan’s war, which broke out in April 2023 between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, has triggered one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies, uprooting more than 14 million people.
As one of Africa’s leading gold producers, Sudan has seen its mineral wealth become a central prize in the fighting, with the RSF holding sway over mining areas in Darfur and Kordofan while government forces control production in the north and east.
Analysts and UN experts believe over half of the country’s gold, possibly as much as 70%, is smuggled abroad annually rather than exported through official channels.
Brussels framed the sanctions as an effort to starve the warring parties of cash rather than simply sanctioning their leaders, and said further economic measures could follow as part of its push toward peace.
Humanitarian exemptions remain in place for mercury and cyanide needed for medical or public health use.
Still, experts note the ban leaves a significant loophole: smuggling networks running through the UAE, a well-documented hub for illicit Sudanese gold, fall outside the scope of the new rules, raising doubts about how much the measures alone can choke off the flow of conflict funding.
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