The conflict in Sudan is a severe humanitarian emergency, yet it receives far too little coverage. The limited global attention not only hides the scale of human suffering but also limits understanding of how the violence is affecting workers and communities connected to Sudan’s supply chains, and how the trade of certain commodities, such as gold and gum arabic, continues to fuel violence.
What is happening in Sudan?
Since April 2023, intense fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated communities across the country. What began as clashes around the capital, Khartoum, has expanded to other regions resulting in widespread civilian deaths, mass displacement and the collapse of essential services, including access to healthcare, food and electricity. These atrocities stem from decades of violence in the region and specifically in Darfur and are being sustained by ongoing abuses committed by the RSF, the SAF and allied militias.[1] While their methods may differ, both groups have been accused by rights organizations of targeting civilians.[2]
Why is the conflict in Sudan relevant for companies?
These conflict dynamics have serious implications for global supply chains, particularly in gold, agricultural commodities such as gum arabic and sesame seeds, textiles, natural gas, and other extractive sectors. Sudan is the world’s largest exporter of oil seeds such as groundnuts, sunflower, soybean, safflower and sesame. The conflict has heavily impacted the agricultural sector leading to reduced production and disrupted harvests.
Sudan also produces more than 80% of the world’s gum arabic which is used in cosmetics, additives and paint.[3] According to World Bank trade statistics, in 2022, the EU imported acacia gum (gum arabic) worth about USD 132.3 million, with USD 97.8 million coming from Sudan.[4] Although export volumes have declined since the outbreak of the conflict, European companies continue to source gum arabic from Sudan.
A report by PAX notes that Sudan’s gum arabic sector has long been opaque and characterized by state capture, with harvesters receiving only a marginal share of the final export value.
According to the report, Sudan’s gum arabic trade has shifted “from a regulated export sector into a militarized shadow economy, directly linking the sector to the conflict,” given that much of the gum now likely moves through RSF-controlled territories and where the RSF is believed to benefit financially through looting, taxation of transport and control of trade routes.[5]
Sudan is also the third-largest gold producer in Africa and gold has long been a conflict-linked commodity in the country.[6] Military actors have competed for control over gold mining areas and trade routes, making it a significant source of revenue for both the SAF and the RSF.
As the conflict deepens, the trade in these commodities has become increasingly entangled with armed actors. Today, many Sudanese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are under direct military control, and the armed parties play a central role in several key economic sectors.
Companies with activities in Sudan may increasingly be connected to severe human rights violations, especially if they are associated with SOEs and military-controlled companies.[7]
In conflict-affected areas, businesses are not neutral actors as their presence and activities can influence the dynamics of a conflict. According to the UNGPs, companies should treat this risk “as a legal compliance issue wherever they operate.”[8] Companies failing to act in accordance with international law and human rights standards may expose both their businesses and their executives to legal risks, including corporate, criminal and civil liability. This has been demonstrated, for example, in the case of Lafarge for complicity in crimes against humanity in Syria and in the case of Lundin Energy for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan (now South Sudan).
What are the dynamics that influence the conflict?
Sudan has had a complex history of identity formation. Over successive governments, differences in identity have been politicized and weaponized: Arabs versus Africans and pastoralists versus nomadic herders. These tensions have contributed to repeated cycles of resource-based conflict and state-sponsored violence. Local communities have long struggled to assert their rights over land and natural resources, despite living in regions that are extremely resource rich.[9]
In October 2025, El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, fell under the control of the RSF after 500 days of siege. The RSF is a paramilitary group that has evolved from the Janjaweed, the ‘Arab’ militia that in the early 2000s committed a genocide against Darfur’s ‘non-Arab’ population.[10]
Located in western Sudan, Darfur has long faced economic marginalization and political neglect since the country’s formation.
The roots of this violence lie partly in the long-standing attention of the state towards central regions as well as the centering of ‘Arab identity’, while communities in peripheral areas, including Darfur, South Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains, have been disenfranchised and excluded from resource governance.[11]
Recognizing these political histories is essential for grasping the current situation in Sudan and the impact on rightsholders within supply chains.
What is expected of businesses if they are sourcing from or operating in Sudan?
In this context, businesses must conduct heightened due diligence (hHRDD) to identify, prevent and mitigate risks to people, as well as risks of contributing to the exacerbating of conflict or to violations of international law, including international humanitarian law. Businesses need to add a ‘conflict-lens’ to their due diligence, i.e., by identifying triggers and flash points that drive conflict and acting on impacts by ceasing and preventing them, as well as tracking and communicating on measures.[12]
Importantly, effective HRDD, especially in conflict-affected areas like Sudan, must be tailored to the local context. This requires understanding power dynamics, conflict economies and the ways in which supply chains intersect with community vulnerabilities. To do this effectively, companies need direct insight from those most affected.
This is where meaningful stakeholder engagement becomes essential. Robust engagement is a core component of hHRDD, as it provides valuable insights into the concerns of potentially affected communities.[13] Where direct engagement with affected stakeholders is not possible due to safety constraints and fear of retribution, businesses should seek input from civil society organizations and diaspora communities.
As outlined in UNDP’s Guide on Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts (UNDP Guide), engagement with armed groups can help businesses obtain critical information and identify leverage points when group actions affect their operations.
To do so, businesses should develop a clear engagement strategy grounded in an understanding of the armed group’s motivations and objectives, and they should inform relevant government or state actors, as contact with armed groups may be criminalized. Throughout this process, companies must remain impartial and maintain independence from both government-led and non-state armed group activities.[14] It is important to note that a rushed decision to exit and disengage can be harmful. If heightened due diligence leads to the conclusion that disengagement is necessary, a proper exit plan must be put in place to ensure that withdrawing does not exacerbate the conflict and that the impacts of exiting do not outweigh the benefits.[15]
Over the past year, CORE has seen a growing number of clients seeking guidance on heightened due diligence in conflict-affected areas. We advise companies that operate or source from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRAs) in a responsible and conflict-sensitive way.
If you are a company operating in or supplying from a conflict-affected and high-risk area, here are some resources (beyond the UNDP Guide) that we find particularly relevant and have used in our advisory work:
- Training Facilitation Guide Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence, UNDP, November 2025
- Navigating Portfolio Exposure to Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas: Practical Guidance for Investor Engagement with Companies, Investor Alliance for Human Rights, Heartland Initiative, Inc. and PeaceNexus Foundation, April 2025
- Private Businesses and Armed Conflict: An introduction to relevant rules of international humanitarian law, International Committee of the Red Cross – ICRC, Australian Red Cross, French Red Cross, November 2024
- The Saliency Materiality Nexus, Addressing systemic risks to people and portfolios in a turbulent world, Heartland Initiative, Westpath, Schroders, August 2024
- Guidance on Responsible Business in Challenging Contexts, International Chamber of Commerce, July 2024
- Business and Human Rights in Challenging Contexts: Considerations for Remaining and Exiting, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, August 2023
- Corporate due diligence in times of armed conflict, From rushed reactions to proper preparedness, European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) and Frank Bold, June 2022
- Business, human rights and conflict-affected regions: towards heightened action, United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, July 2020
- Don’t Forget the Geneva Conventions: Achieving Responsible Business Conduct in Conflict-Affected Areas Through Adherence to International Humanitarian Law, Jonathan Kolieb, RMIT University, September 2020
- Doing Responsible Business in Armed Conflict: Risks, Rights and Responsibilities, Australian Red Cross and RMIT University, 2020
Lavanya for the CORE team
[1] Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. “The Structural Roots of Sudan’s Ongoing Devastation.”
https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/53506/the-structural-roots-of-sudans-ongoing-devastation
[2] Al Jazeera. “Massacre in El-Fasher: What’s Happening in Sudan Right Now?” October 29, 2025.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/29/massacre-in-el-fasher-whats-happening-in-sudan-right-now.
[3] World Economic Forum. “How Sudan’s Agriculture Could Help Solve the World Food Crisis.” March 2024.
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/03/sudan-agriculture-world-food-crisis-solution/.
[4] Of that amount, USD 80.1 million went to France, USD 12.8 million to Germany, and the remaining USD 4.9 million to other EU countries.
[5] PAX. How Trade in Gum Arabic Fuels Conflict in Sudan. November 2025.
https://paxforpeace.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Rapport_Arabische_Gom_uit_Soedan2511.pdf
[6] Chatham House. “Gold and War in Sudan.” March 2025.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/03/gold-and-war-sudan/01-introduction
[7] U.S. Department of State. “Risks and Considerations for U.S. Businesses Operating in Sudan.” 2025.
https://2021-2025.state.gov/risks-and-considerations-for-u-s-businesses-operating-in-sudan/.
[8] Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. United Nations, 2011.
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf.
[9] Elmakki, Osman Ali Osman. Power Struggles and Resource Control in Sudan: Analyzing the Dynamics of Local Communities, Regional Elites, and the State in Sudan’s Natural Resource Governance. 2024. https://ijsra.net/sites/default/files/IJSRA-2024-2561.pdf
[10] PAX. How Trade in Gum Arabic Fuels Conflict in Sudan. November 2025.
https://paxforpeace.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/11/Rapport_Arabische_Gom_uit_Soedan2511.pdf
[11] Elmileik, Ahmed. “Sudan’s Civil War Is Rooted in Its Historical Favouritism of Arab and Islamic Identity.” The Conversation, 2024.
https://theconversation.com/sudans-civil-war-is-rooted-in-its-historical-favouritism-of-arab-and-islamic-identity-228533.
[12] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts: A Guide. 2023.
https://www.undp.org/publications/heightened-human-rights-due-diligence-business-conflict-affected-contexts-guide.
[13] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts: A Guide. 2023.
https://www.undp.org/publications/heightened-human-rights-due-diligence-business-conflict-affected-contexts-guide.
[14] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts: A Guide. 2023.
https://www.undp.org/publications/heightened-human-rights-due-diligence-business-conflict-affected-contexts-guide.
[15] United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Business in Conflict-Affected Contexts: A Guide. 2023.
