Khartoum wake-up call, how Riyadh will stabilise Sudan |
In Geneva last October, Saudi Arabia did something rare in the long agony of Sudan’s war. It spoke plainly. Before diplomats and humanitarian officials, Riyadh’s envoy condemned the Rapid Support Forces’ assault on El Fasher as ‘grave’, demanding immediate humanitarian access and denouncing attacks on civilians, aid workers and infrastructure.
The language echoed warnings from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, who had already pleaded for urgent action to prevent mass atrocities after more than 500 days of siege in North Darfur. Markets bombed. Mosques struck. Camps for the displaced were raided. Tens of thousands uprooted again in a land long scarred by militia violence.
For Sudan, it was another chapter in a familiar tragedy. For Saudi Arabia, it was a strategic inflection point.
The RSF is no ordinary militia. Born of the Janjaweed militias unleashed in Darfur under Omar al-Bashir, it has evolved into something far more complex: part paramilitary, part commercial empire, part shadow state. Under Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, the group entrenched itself in Sudan’s gold sector, controlling dozens of companies in mining and infrastructure. By 2024, Sudan’s pre-export gold revenues exceeded US$1.6 billion, according to C4ADS investigations. Chatham House has described gold as the most significant source of income for the main conflict parties.
That gold does not sit idle in desert vaults. It travels through Chad, Libya and Egypt — and often lands in Gulf markets. Investigations suggest roughly 29 tonnes of Sudanese gold entered Dubai in 2024 alone, a 70 per cent year-on-year increase, even as sanctions multiplied. It’s Bullion for bullets.
This is why the war has proven so stubborn. The RSF is not merely fighting for territory; it is protecting a revenue stream. Military stalemate becomes tolerable when the books balance. War becomes an economic model.
That gold does not sit idle in desert vaults. It travels through Chad, Libya and Egypt — and often lands in Gulf markets. Investigations suggest roughly 29 tonnes of........