Business and Human Rights in Conflict: Gum Arabic from Sudan - Companies can't continue business as usual when sourcing their products from a war zone

Article by Volker Türk 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

United Nations Human Rights
Published at LinkedIn on Wed 15 July 2026 - full copy:

Sudan’s vast natural resources should benefit its people. Instead, they are being misused to drive conflict and undermine human rights, bringing pain and suffering on an enormous scale. 

 

The war economy is now helping to sustain the three-year-long conflict. Our new report warns that this poses serious human rights risks across commodities, trade routes and value chains. It calls on companies dealing with Sudanese products to conduct strict due diligence to ensure compliance with international law.

 

The report focuses on the trade in gum arabic – a key ingredient in soft drinks, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. It finds that many of those who depend on this commodity for a living have been subjected to arbitrary detention, looting, threats, and extortion by the parties to the conflict and associated groups. 

 

I urge States and companies dealing with Sudanese products to strengthen accountability, traceability, and regulatory oversight. International human rights and humanitarian law, as well as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, provide a framework for action. 

 

Companies cannot continue business as usual when sourcing their products from a war zone.

Briefing Paper
Business and Human Rights in Conflict: Gum Arabic from Sudan

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/sudan/2026-07-15-sudan-trend-analysis-report.pdf

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Sudan: Emergency Lawyers demands release of detained members of resistance committees

Report from Radio Dabanga - dabangasudan.org

Dated Friday 19 May 2023

Sudan’s warring parties ‘detain activists, hold volunteers incommunicado’   

(Social media)

(KHARTOUM / WAD MADANI) – Both the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reportedly detained ‘hundreds of activists and volunteers’ in the country’s capital. Two young activists charged of killing a police officer in Khartoum more than a year ago were held in Wad Madani, El Gezira, on Tuesday.

Military Intelligence held Saddam Juma, Amer Abboud, and Mujahid Anwar three members of the Khartoum North (Khartoum Bahri) Neighbourhood Committees from their homes on Tuesday and took them to El Zakheera camp in El Kadaro in the northern part of the city.

The same day, RSF paramilitaries seized volunteer Mohamed Ezzeldin near the Arkoweet Emergency Room in Khartoum while he was collecting medicines and distributing them to patients in the neighbourhood. It is unclear where he has been taken.

In a statement posted on social media yesterday, Sudan’s Emergency Lawyers strongly condemned “the targeting by both sides of the armed conflict of members of resistance committees and volunteers helping out in the various emergency rooms” in Khartoum.

“Illegal detention is considered a crime under the Sudanese Penal Code, the Bill of Rights and Freedoms, and international covenants,” the Emergency Lawyers stated.

“We hold the two sides of the fighting responsible for the lives and safety of the detainees. The humanitarian conditions at the places of detention are extremely complex and insecure, because of the ongoing clashes, battles, and aerial bombardments. We call on them to immediately release the detainees.”

‘Prevalent’

“Kidnapping is prevalent in Sudan’s ongoing conflict, mainly carried out by the RSF, which is currently holding hundreds of innocent civilians in unknown locations,” Hala Elkarib, founder of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) tweeted from Khartoum yesterday.

“Volunteers who are providing aid to communities are frequently being kidnapped. While the SAF is detaining members of the resistance committees, the RSF is abducting them. Sadly, there is no progress being made toward establishing safe humanitarian passages.”

Unknown destination

In Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, Mohamed Adam ‘Tupac’ and Ahmed El Fateh ‘El Nana’ were detained by members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police/Forces on Tuesday.

Adam, El Fateh, and two other young men were detained in Khartoum in January 2022 and charged with killing a police officer during pro-democracy protests earlier that month.

The three were held in Kober Prison, where they, and in particular Adam, the main suspect, was repeatedly tortured. They were transferred to El Huda Prison in Omdurman in December last year after the judge dealing with the case ordered a criminal investigation against the director of Kober Prison. On April 15 fierce fighting broke out between the SAF and the RSF in the Sudanese capital. About a week later, RSF attacked El Huda prison and released all the inmates.

Adam stated in a video clip at the time that he would not take advantage of his escape and would return to detention until his case was completed and he and his comrades’ innocence was confirmed.

He and El Fateh, and their families later fled the violence in the city and sought refuge, with thousands of others, in Wad Madani.

Members of their defence team said in a statement last week that when the two young men volunteered to aid the many displaced people squatting in primary schools.

A school principal reported their presence to the Central Reserve Police which then seized Adam and El Fateh and took them to an unknown destination.

On March 21 last year, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on the paramilitary Central Reserve Police that stand under the command of the police, for serious human rights violations since the October 2021 joint SAF-RSF coup d’etat.

Many people in Darfur dread the forces of the Central Reserve Police (popularly known as Abu Teira or Abu Tira), remembering they used to terrorise people in villages and camps for the displaced in the region.

View original: 

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudans-warring-parties-detain-activists-hold-volunteers-incommunicado

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