How Soda, Chocolate and Chewing Gum Are Funding War in Sudan, 8 June 2024

A powerful militia and the country’s military both profit from trade in gum arabic, a common ingredient...Near the end of his 50-mile trip, Jaber says he pays around $330 to fighters from the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group that the U.S. government has accused of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s one-year-old civil war...In addition to the payments at the main RSF checkpoints, Jaber says gum arabic traders also hand over between $60 and $100 to AK-47-toting RSF fighters, who accompany the convoys of traders in pickup trucks...

In addition to the RSF collecting money through its control of most major agricultural routes, the Sudanese military—which runs the country’s de facto government—levies taxes and other tariffs on the gum arabic trade...“Proceeds from the gum arabic exports are directly financing this fighting,” says Rabie Abdelaty, a Sudanese academic who has researched the gum arabic industry...Despite these concerns, few companies have taken steps to make sure they are avoiding Sudanese gum arabic, based on interviews with manufacturers, suppliers and end-users...

“You don’t want the customers to be out of gum,” said Osama Idris, general manager at Morouj Commodities UK, a raw-gum importer and processor based in Weston-super-Mare, in England...Nestlé, which adds gum arabic to chocolates and gummy candies, said that according to its suppliers, the small quantities it uses come primarily from Chad, Niger and Mali...A spokesman for Kisses-maker Hershey said the company expects all of its suppliers to adhere to all laws in the countries in which they operate. A Ferrero spokeswoman said the chocolate maker has strict due diligence measures that all of its suppliers must comply with, including assessments and on-field audits...French company Nexira, which says it has a 40% share of the global gum arabic market, paused its operations in Sudan for three months last year, but has since resumed and is receiving shipments of gum from the country...“Our business came to a complete halt,” said Martijn Bergkamp, a partner at FOGA Gum. “We work on a completely transparent food chain. Due to the war, it is not clear where gum comes from in Sudan. We don’t want to cooperate with either party.”...Now the company only supports tree planting by some nurseries in the western Darfur region, he said...
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