UK sanctions Sudan gold networks and war financiers
July 16, 2026 (LONDON) – The British government announced sanctions on Thursday targeting Sudan’s conflict gold trade, procurement networks, and financial facilitators accused of fueling the country’s devastating civil war.
The new measures target 11 individuals and entities suspected of providing vital financial and commercial support to either the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) or the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
Britain’s Foreign Office stated that Sudan’s gold industry serves as the primary engine of its war economy. While official gold exports were valued at $1.5 billion during 2024 and 2025, billions of dollars’ worth of gold are smuggled out of the country annually through illicit channels to fund weapons procurement and military operations.
The sanctioned targets are all Sudanese nationals or entities that trade internationally, specifically exploiting gold markets in Dubai and Hong Kong to monetise Sudanese gold before it enters global supply chains.
At the centre of the sanctions package is Abu Dharr Abdul Nabi Habiballa Ahmmed, a Sudanese national described by British authorities as a notorious RSF financier and procurement facilitator. He is suspected of sustaining RSF operations from abroad through Prodigious Real Estate Management Supervision Services, a United Arab Emirates-based company within his commercial network.
The measures also penalise United Arab Emirates-based front companies Natwest Logistics and Aoun Commercial Brokers. British authorities suspect these entities were used by RSF procurement operatives Mazin Fadlalla and Ahmed Hashim to secure funding, equipment, and logistics for the paramilitary group.
On the military side, Britain targeted Ahmad Abdalla, a procurement operative linked to the SAF and the state-controlled Defence Industries Systems. Abdalla is suspected of securing weapons and funding for the army through Portex Trade Limited, a Hong Kong-based company used to evade existing sanctions.
State-controlled mining operations were heavily hit, including Omdurman Mining and Ariab Mining Company, both accused of generating gold revenues to fund the army’s war effort. State-owned Sudamin Company Limited was also sanctioned for allegedly channelling conflict gold revenues to both warring factions, including through historical links to the previously sanctioned company Al Junaid.
“The people of Sudan continue to pay the price for a war fuelled not only by guns and fighters, but by illicit flows of gold and finance to fill the war chests on both sides,” British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement.
The sanctions come as international monitors warn of a rapidly deteriorating situation around the Sudanese city of El Obeid, where the RSF is currently massing surge forces.
British officials warned that El Obeid, which is already under severe humanitarian pressure, risks becoming the scene of a mass atrocity similar to recent horrors witnessed in El Fasher.
In a statement to the House of Commons, Cooper called for the existing United Nations arms embargo on Sudan to be extended to cover El Obeid. She added that those enabling atrocities from the battlefield to the boardroom will be held accountable.
The British government also announced that the illicit gold trade will be a priority theme at the upcoming UK Illicit Finance Summit, scheduled for London in December 2026.