The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have imposed a sweeping ban on gum arabic exports from territories under their control, according to sources.
Lieutenant General Abdel Rahim Dagalo, the RSF’s second commander, reportedly issued direct orders to border units to halt all outbound shipments.
Traders say the prohibition targets routes into Chad, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, countries historically reliant on Sudanese gum arabic.
The measure signals a new RSF policy to dominate trade in the resin, a prized commodity used globally in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.
Sources confirmed the RSF recently purchased more than 70 truckloads of gum arabic, originally bound for Chad, from traders in Kordofan and Darfur.
Security has since been tightened along border crossings, where armed units are preventing convoys from leaving with the lucrative cargo.
At the same time, smaller quantities have reportedly been exported by air from Nyala Airport to undisclosed foreign destinations, bypassing regional trade routes.
One trader, speaking anonymously, described how his trucks were stopped in El Geneina before crossing into Chad.
He said RSF forces told him orders prohibited exports, but then purchased his cargo directly and paid the full amount in cash.
Sudan, long the world’s leading gum Arabic producer, faces mounting disruption as the RSF consolidates control over its economic lifeline.
