We’ve all heard of the ‘blood diamonds’ which funded armed conflict in Sierra Leone. But have you heard of gum arabic funding the conflict in Sudan? And do you even know what gum arabic is?
What is gum arabic?
It is a resin produced by tapping the sap from the acacia senegal tree which grows in a belt across central Africa.
What is gum arabic used for?
It is, surprisingly, used in a vast variety of products. The resin is powdered and used as an emulsifier and binder. So you will find it in soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, ice cream, sweets, chewing gum, paints and adhesives, in medicines to hold pills together, as a coating for capsules, and in syrups and lozenges.
It is also used in cosmetics and creams as an emulsifying and stabilising agent. It can be used as a thickener to improve viscosity and texture so improving the ability for a foundation to adhere or a cream to spread. It will be used to help blend oil and water-based ingredients to prevent separation and giving them a smooth texture. It can be used to stabilise fragrances.
It also has a film-forming ability which is used in lipsticks and mascaras to enhance longevity and prevent smudging, has an anti-ageing effect of smoothing out wrinkles and is purported to have soothing and anti-inflammatory properties too.
[https://zwnglobal.com/cosmetics/]
How important to Sudan is the gum arabic trade?
Sudan is, or was up until the war in 2023, the world’s largest producer and exporter of gum arabic, producing between 70-80% of the world’s demand.
[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/6/how-is-gum-arabic-fuelling-the-war-in-sudan]
The gum arabic belt in Sudan stretches from the border with Chad in the west to the border with Ethiopia in the east, an area of approximately 50,000 square kilometres and many farmers in that area depend on it for their livelihoods.
[https://www.unops.org/news-and-stories/stories/rehabilitating-east-darfurs-gum-arabic-belt]
Since the war in Sudan broke out in 2023, official export numbers of gum arabic have dropped but the export numbers from neighbouring countries has gone up, suggesting that most of the gum arabic made in Sudan is being smuggled out.
Is that a problem?
Well, some of the smuggling will be done by regular Sudanese traders who are just trying to get their product sold. But they avoid having to certify that their product is conflict-free and are also trying to avoid levies by the Sudanese government.
The worry now is that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is now also smuggling out the gum arabic, looting it to sell in neighbouring countries and imposing their own levies on it, hence funding the armed conflict and depriving the farm producers & tappers of their livelihoods.
Who are the main purchasers of gum arabic?
Europe and North America are the main purchasers with France being the top importer and top exporter of processed gum. All are supposed to be ensuring that traceability standards are being met but with most gum being smuggled out, being mixed with local gum in another country and then re-labelled as originating from this second country, it is very difficult to ensure gum arabic is totally conflict-free.
As a consumer, it will be a hard product to avoid, it is in so many products, described as an ‘unsung hero’ in one editorial. It can be found on ingredient labels as ‘gum arabic’, ‘acacia gum’ or ‘E414’ or ‘I414’ if you did want to see if you can spot it.
Kind regards,
Sandy
Dr Sandy Flann, Consultant Dermatologist
