Lorries containing around 10,000 tonnes of gum arabic worth tens of millions of dollars were looted by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters in Sudan earlier this month and have disappeared, traders and officials told Middle East Eye.
The shipment was being held in more than 400 vehicles alongside other crops ready for export from the West Kordofan town of al-Nahud when the RSF seized the area from the Sudanese military on 2 May.
After taking al-Nahud, a centre for gum arabic cultivation and a strategic point on the road that links army-dominated eastern Sudan and the RSF-held west, fighters ransacked homes, shops and businesses.
Gum arabic traders told MEE this process is ongoing, as RSF fighters attempt to break into warehouses and stores containing the valuable product across the states of West Kordofan and North Kordofan, where there is intense fighting.
Two traders who have been directly impacted by the thefts suggested that the gum arabic looted in recent days in and around al-Nahud is worth around $75m at today’s inflated prices.
