Gputting gold on Christmas has been a thing since the beginning. And there are few better places to buy it than Dubai's Gold Souk, renowned as the world's largest and cheapest gold market.
Bargain hunters have flocked here since before the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became a country. Back in the early 1900s, merchants from India and Iran began selling gems and precious metals along the winding waterway known as Dubai Creek. Today, more than 500 shops line the narrow lanes of the Gold Souk, filled with pearls, platinum rings, silver earrings, and diamond-encrusted necklaces—along with its precious metals, which can be bought as jewelry, coins or biscuits.
“The biggest reason for its popularity is safety,” Fahad Khan, a Pakistani from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who has worked in Dubai's Gold Souk for two decades, tells TIME. “People can walk away with gold in your hand, and no one will bother you. Many people come here, buy 24 carat or 22 biscuits, go back to their countries and sell them.” It's no wonder then that gold is Dubai's top foreign trade commodity, dwarfing oil four to one by 2020.
As Christmas approaches, Dubai's Gold Souk is overcrowded—both because of tourists stocking up on cheap gifts and because November through February is when gold prices are historically low, encouraging buyers. These months also coincide with a period of heavy fighting during Sudan's deadly civil war. That may seem like a strong segue, but there is much to connect the two.
While the scourge of blood diamonds is well documented (and immortalized in Leonardo DiCaprio's 2006 film), the role of blood gold is more subtle but not destructive. And gold has been one of the main drivers of the Sudan conflict, allowing both sides to fuel their war machines, especially after world gold prices hit their peak in 2024. “Gold has become the currency of this war,” said Kholood Khair. , a Sudanese policy analyst and founding director of Confluence Advisory.
The UAE is the world's third largest importer of gold, which is Sudan's most important commodity, accounting for 70% of exports. These developments make the UAE the main actor in the war-torn Northeast African country of 50 million, where more than 20,000 people have been killed, 7 million internally displaced, and nearly 2 million forced to cross borders as refugees since war broke out in April 2023. .
The conflict in Sudan is largely between the government's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – apparently a change to free elections, although tensions have been simmering for years. The RSF was formed from the Janjaweed fighters of former President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for three decades before being ousted in a popular coup in 2019. That revolution brought to power Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who eventually consolidated his position in the United States. 2021 coup and today is fighting RSF chief Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemeti. Al-Burhan's government accuses the UAE of supporting the RSF, which is alleged to have carried out ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
The UAE denies any apparent role in the conflict. In a statement, the Permanent Mission of the UAE to the UN condemned the “false allegations” that it is the instigator of the violence. “We reaffirm our support for efforts to reduce tensions, implement a ceasefire and advance negotiations leading to the restoration of a legitimate government that represents all Sudanese people.”
But few independent observers are convinced. Leaked documents purportedly showing Emirati passports found on battlefields suggest the UAE has been secretly sending troops to Sudan. UN sanctions monitors also described allegations that the UAE has provided military support to the RSF as “credible.” Even Grammy-winning American rapper Macklemore canceled an October concert in Dubai over the UAE's alleged role in the “ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis” in Sudan.
“The UAE has taken a very clear position of supporting the military against the military, which includes logistical support, financial support, but also smuggling weapons,” said May Darwich, an associate professor specializing in Middle East politics at the University of Birmingham.
On another level, Sudan is yet another sticking point between rival states in the Middle East, with Qatar and Iran the main supporters of the SAF. But the UAE also sees Sudan as a resource-rich, well-placed opportunity to expand its influence and control across Africa and the Middle East.
The fact that the UAE imports 90% of its food supply has made food safety one of its top priorities, leading to huge investments in overseas farms. It is focusing on Africa, where Sudan is a major agricultural producer, with two UAE companies already cultivating more than 50,000 hectares in its north. However, the war has turned the continent's famine into the world's worst in 40 years, with 50% of Sudan's population in need of aid.
At the same time, Sudan's official gold exports brought in 1.5 billion in the first 10 months of 2024, almost all of which were directed to the UAE. That does not include comparable amounts smuggled into Chad, Libya, Ethiopia, and Egypt by the RAF, which controls the gold fields in eastern Sudan. Some “50–80% of [Sudan’s] gold is smuggled abroad… mainly through the UAE,” Ahmed Soliman, senior researcher for the Africa Program at Chatham House, told a recent podcast.
But the global lust for gold is not limited to causing damage in Sudan, as the UAE is said to be involved in the smuggling of illegal gold from the Central African Republic, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other places. According to a May report by the NGO Swissaid, some 40% of all African gold exports are unaccounted for, of which 93% go to the UAE. In addition, the Russian military Wagner is heavily involved in the trade, helping to extract $2.5 billion in African gold in the fight for Vladimir Putin's election in Ukraine, according to the Blood Gold Report. On November 18, Russia even vetoed a draft resolution of the UN Security Council on the protection of Sudanese civilians that would have urged the warring parties to immediately stop fighting and engage in negotiations.
Of course, the UAE being accused of a role in dumping gold is nothing new. In 2016, Reuters reported that the UAE announced gold sales from 25 African countries—worth $7.4 billion—which did not announce any exports to the UAE. In total, the UAE declared $3.9 billion more in gold from 21 other source countries than was declared in its exports. The collapse of gold supply chains means that American buyers may be financing the war in Sudan today. The number one exporter of gold to the US is Switzerland, whose top supplier of gold is the UAE. “The UAE is not serious as long as gold monetizes its markets,” said Khair. “It takes anywhere.”
What is the international community doing? Very little, it seems, with the UAE's stance vis-à-vis Israel amid the Gaza war buys diplomatic cover. “The US and Israel have this view of the UAE as one of the few countries in the moderate camp in the region, and they don't want to lose that partner yet,” Harwich said.
It's an oversight that leaves potential buyers looking to buy their loved ones a sparkling gift from an ethical source this holiday season with very little leverage. Khair adds: “The livestock of Sudan is full of gold.”
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