The UN's Leadership is a a sacrilege institution. Declan Walsh...
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The UN's Leadership is a a sacrilege institution.
Declan Walsh
chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
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"The Gold Rush at the Heart of a Civil War"
Image Credit: Reuters
As U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres renews his call for an immediate halt to fighting in Sudan between the country's military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, we speak with New York Times correspondent Declan Walsh about how the conflict is being fueled by the illicit gold trade.
He reports that Sudan's gold riches are being smuggled out of the country by both sides in order to pay for the drones, guns and missiles that have killed tens of thousands of people since the start of the civil war in April 2023. Much of that wealth is ending up in the United Arab Emirates, which backs the RSF despite mounting evidence of the group's war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"Gold is really at the heart of the RSF's ascent to power," says Walsh.
Transcript
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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
We turn now to Sudan.
Earlier today, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres renewed his call for an immediate halt to the fighting between the Sudanese military and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Guterres also condemned last week's drone attack on the last functioning hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in North Darfur.
The attack killed an estimated 70 people.
Sudan's government blamed the RSF for the massacre.
Over 14 million people have been displaced by the war in Sudan, which started in April of 2023. Three million of those have become refugees, most of them crossing the border to South Sudan and Chad.
We go now to Declan Walsh, chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Last month, he wrote a piece headlined "The Gold Rush at the Heart of a Civil War."
Declan, thanks so much for being with us. Explain why gold is so essential to what the U.S. is now in Sudan calling a genocide even.
DECLAN WALSH: Thanks, Amy. It's great to be with you.
Look, it's really the most astonishing thing in this huge war. You know, the war has been going on for two years.
It has destroyed the country, pushed it into famine.
It has just absolutely crushed the economy.
And yet, the one thing that is still functioning -- in fact, the one business that's still thriving is gold. Sudan has some of the richest gold deposits in Africa.
And since the war has started, our reporting showed that both sides have stepped up their efforts to exploit that gold, most of which ends up being traded in the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf, and they're using that funding for -- to fund the weapons purchases that are being used to fight the war.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Declan, could you talk about the role of the United Arab Emirates in this conflict?
DECLAN WALSH: So, one of the aspects of this conflict that have really bedeviled efforts to try and bring the two warring sides to peace is the fact that so many foreign countries have gotten involved on both sides.
But
Posted January 28 2025 at 7:43 PM
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