EU bans gold imports from major African producer
The EU has banned the purchase, import, and transfer of Sudanese gold in a move aimed at cutting off financial sources for the African country’s ongoing civil war, the bloc said on Monday.
The measure also prohibits the sale, supply, transfer, and export of mining chemicals, including mercury and cyanide, to Sudan.
“Gold has become a key source of revenue sustaining the conflict in Sudan,” the EU said in a statement, adding that the restriction “aims to reduce the resources available to those responsible for perpetuating the violence.”
Sudan is Africa’s fifth-largest gold producer, with 74.6 tons of output, according to the World Gold Council. Both the army and the paramilitary have sought control over gold-producing areas and trade networks amid the conflict.
A 2024 UN Panel of Experts report said more than 50% of Sudan’s gold production was smuggled out of the country, with illicit trade networks helping sustain the war economy.
Sudan descended into chaos in April 2023 when fighting erupted between the national army (Sudanese Armed Forces, SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This occurred after months of tension between their commanders, army generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ‘Hemedti’, respectively, over a planned transition to civilian rule. What began in the capital, Khartoum, as a power struggle has devastated the country, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
Regional and international peace efforts, including African Union mediation and Saudi–US talks in Jeddah, have repeatedly stalled. Sudanese officials have named Colombians and Ukrainians among mercenaries backing the RSF against the army. Officials have also accused Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates of involvement and recently claimed the European Union has an “incomplete understanding of the complex situation” in the country.
Khartoum has also accused authorities in neighboring Kenya of backing the RSF and has broken ties with the East African grouping IGAD amid mistrust of regional mediation. In July, TASIS, a political coalition aligned with the paramilitary, announced the formation of a rival government months after its members signed a charter in Nairobi. It named Gen. Dagalo as chairman of a 15-member presidential council, a move rejected by the UN and AU.
Sudan’s war began after a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.
The fighting has killed at least 59,000 people and displaced millions, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), although aid groups and researchers say the true toll is likely higher because many deaths in conflict areas remain undocumented.
The warring parties now operate competing administrations. The army-aligned transitional government operated from Port Sudan during much of the war and began restoring state institutions in Khartoum after retaking the capital in March 2025. In February 2025, a Sudanese political coalition announced the formation of a parallel government led by RSF chief Dagalo.
Regional and international efforts led by the US, Saudi Arabia, and the African Union, among others, to secure a ceasefire between the warring parties have so far failed. A US-backed proposal reported last week called for a 90-day humanitarian truce in Sudan, followed by negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and a civilian-led transition to elections. Sudan’s army-aligned authorities said they would only accept the plan if the RSF fully withdrew from cities, disarmed, and demobilized its forces.
Last Sunday, a Sudanese court sentenced Dagalo and 15 other RSF figures to death in absentia over alleged war crimes and the killing of West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar.
