Sudan’s exports grind to a halt, deepening humanitarian crisis

Sudan’s exports grind to a halt, deepening humanitarian crisis

DUBAI - Sudan's sudden eruption into war has strangled exports of key goods including gold, sesame, peanuts and meat, traders based in Dubai say, depriving it of the foreign currency needed to import staple goods.

Fighting between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces is fiercest in Khartoum and has closed the airport, shut down banks, cut power to businesses and halted shipping as armed men have looted offices, factories and warehouses.

Foreign currency from exports, particularly from the $2 billion gold trade through Dubai, is vital for impoverished Sudan to import fuel, wheat, medicine and food as it grapples with a humanitarian catastrophe.

The fighting has already killed hundreds and pushed 850,000 people from their homes. The trade problems will only exacerbate that misery in a country where a quarter of people relied on food aid even before the fighting erupted last month.

Legal gold exports to Dubai have stopped completely because they rely on air shipments and Sudanese airspace has closed to most flights, a gold importer in the Emirate said.

"That means there will be no proceeds to import key commodities, and that will cause the pound to tumble," he added. He and other traders spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity