Britain on Thursday announced sanctions targeting what it said are "illicit gold and finance networks" propping up rival factions in Sudan's devastating civil war. The foreign ministry said the war-torn country's gold trade worth billions of dollars was helping finance "weapons procurement, military operations and the activities of armed groups". The sanctions are aimed at 11 individuals and businesses suspected of being linked to the networks financing and supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army, AFP reported. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, that erupted in April 2023, has killed 200,000 people by some estimates and displaced upwards of 11 million. "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," Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said. Africa's third-largest country is one of the continent's top gold producers, and the state Sudanese Mineral Resources Company reported a "five-year high" in production of 70 tonnes in 2025. The United Nations on Wednesday said the rival factions were profiting from control over the country's resources and that a "war economy" was sustaining the conflict. The UK has previously sanctioned senior commanders of the RSF, who have also been targeted by the European Union. On Tuesday, the European Council had said it was also boosting sanctions. In measures designed to "curb sources of financing for the conflict," the Council said it would ban "the purchase, import or transfer if gold originating in Sudan."
