The Daily – "The Gold Rush Behind a Civil War"

Date: November 10, 2025
Host: Rachel Abrams
Guest: Declan Walsh (New York Times International Correspondent)

Overview

This episode explores the ongoing, devastating civil war in Sudan, highlighting how the country’s vast gold reserves have become the core financial engine of the conflict. Host Rachel Abrams speaks with Declan Walsh, who has reported extensively from Sudan, about the humanitarian catastrophe, the forces at play, how gold smuggling sustains both warring sides, and the global networks—most notably involving Russia and the United Arab Emirates—that perpetuate the violence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Catastrophe in Darfur: Scale of Human Tragedy

• Renewed atrocities: 150,000 killed, 12 million displaced, half of them children ([00:35]).
• RSF (Rapid Support Forces, descended from the Janjaweed) recently seized El Fashr, the last city in western Sudan not under its control ([01:36]).
  • Evidence of atrocities: graphic execution videos, bodies found piled in buildings, satellite imagery revealing traces of blood in the sands ([02:00]-[03:07]).

“Videos...showing bodies piled in buildings, fighters executing wounded people lying on the ground...”
—Declan Walsh ([01:54])

2. How This Conflict Differs from the Last Genocide

• Past: Janjaweed, horses and camels, fighting for the government
• Now: RSF, armored vehicles, Chinese drones, fighting against the army, ambitions nationwide
• More than 12 million displaced, 400,000 estimated dead, widespread famine ([03:19]-[04:49]).

3. What Fuels the War: The Role of Gold

• Initial perception: power struggle between two generals in April 2023 ([05:11]).
• Reporting turned to “following the money,” led Declan Walsh to evidence amidst devastated Khartoum ([05:36]-[08:14]).
• Clues found in luxurious abandoned villas—corporate documents linking RSF to southern gold mines ([08:14]-[09:24]).
• Gold is a unique resource: easy to mine, even in war, and at record high prices.

“Here was this clue that really set us further along this track of trying to uncover what’s really driving this destructive war in Sudan.”
—Declan Walsh ([08:59])

4. How Gold Gets Mined and Moved

• Most gold mining is artisanal—thousands of desperate Sudanese using pickaxes, rudimentary machinery, and mercury ([11:33]).
  • Not forced/slave labor, but “desperate labor” driven by a shattered economy ([13:13]).
• RSF controls these mines, but relies on Wagner Group (now “Afrika Korps”) mercenaries for extraction and transport to international markets ([14:17]-[15:24]).

“No, I would call it desperate labor. These are people who are turning to gold mining because frankly, there’s no other source of income left.”
—Declan Walsh ([13:26])

• The Sudanese military also relies on gold, controlling larger industrial mines in the east and north, with Russian businessmen sometimes involved ([15:32]).
• Russia thus “benefiting from both sides of this conflict” ([16:14]-[16:19]).

5. Tracing the Gold—The UAE’s Central Role

• Almost all Sudanese gold, worth billions, is smuggled to the United Arab Emirates ([16:32], [18:40]).
  • Gold is hard to trace—no geological signature like diamonds.
  • Example: A $25 million shipment traced from Darfur, via South Sudan, on to a UAE luxury jet ([18:40]-[19:47]).
  • Swiss study: $115 billion in undeclared African gold entered the UAE in the last decade ([19:55]).

6. The UAE and International Complicity

• UAE categorically denies supporting the war, claims to back peace efforts ([21:00]-[21:05]).
  • Contradicted by reporting—UAE supplied drones, mercenaries, political support; used Red Crescent as cover ([21:05]).
  • UAE has an ownership stake in Sudan’s Kush Mine—a sign it is “arming one side while funding the other” ([22:29]).

“There’s evidence the UAE is arming one side in the war while funding the other.”
—Declan Walsh ([22:18])

7. International Response and U.S. Diplomacy

• Biden administration privately pressed the UAE on its involvement, with little effect ([22:54]).
• Trump administration was initially less engaged, but with the siege of El Fashr, has become more involved since September ([22:54]-[24:00]).
  • Formation of the "Quad": US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt—a framework for ceasefire talks ([24:00]).
• Critics argue the US is depending on countries it knows are fueling the conflict to deliver peace ([24:14]).

8. Will the World Pay Attention?

• Sudan’s war has received little global coverage—overshadowed by conflicts like Gaza ([25:20]).
• Horrific images from Sudan now emerging have started to galvanize some attention, but there is concern momentum could fade ([25:48]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the unique brutality of the RSF:

  “These videos, it must be said, are filmed by the fighters themselves as kind of trophies for the war, which is a pattern we’ve seen since the start of the Sudan war.”
  — Declan Walsh ([02:00])

• On the global supply chain of conflict gold:

  “We found that nearly all of this gold…goes to a single destination. And that’s…the United Arab Emirates, which…could be the solution to ending it.”
  — Declan Walsh ([16:32])

• On the U.S. trying to resolve Sudan’s civil war:

  “Here’s the US trying to bring peace to Sudan, but doing it through these talks with countries that are fueling either side in the war, particularly the UAE.”
  — Declan Walsh ([24:14])

• On the obscured human tragedy:

  “It was really incredible to see how an entire city could be reduced to rubble by this two years of war, largely, it must be said, without being seen by the outside world.”
  — Declan Walsh ([07:32])

Important Timestamps

• 00:35: Atrocities, scale of displacement and death in Darfur
• 03:19: Comparison to past conflict; the RSF vs. Janjaweed
• 05:11: Genesis of war as a power struggle, questions about funding
• 08:14: Gold discovered as the war’s financial engine
• 11:33: Description of artisanal mining and desperate labor
• 14:17: Wagner Group's partnership with RSF
• 15:32: Military's dependence on gold, involvement of Russians
• 16:32: Introduction of UAE as gold’s main destination
• 19:55: Quantifying gold flows—$115 billion in a decade
• 21:05: Contradictions in UAE’s denials and evidence of its involvement
• 22:54: U.S. diplomatic efforts and limitations
• 25:20: Media attention (or lack thereof) for Sudan versus Gaza

Tone and Style

The conversation is sober, urgent, and informed by eyewitness and investigative reporting. Declan Walsh brings direct observations from Sudan—often harrowing but always grounded in deep context—to paint a picture of a major modern tragedy driven by international greed and indifference. Rachel Abrams guides the interview with empathy, clarity, and an eye for global implication.

Summary Takeaways

• Sudan’s civil war is inflicting a humanitarian disaster on a massive scale, largely out of sight.
• The war is financed on both sides by gold—a resource easily mined amid chaos.
• Billions in Sudanese conflict gold move through the UAE, implicating global markets and politics.
• The UAE plays a double game—funding both sides while profiting—orchestrating influence in the region.
• U.S. diplomatic efforts are hamstrung by reliance on “partners” with deep complicity.
• Despite a handful of horrific viral moments, sustained international attention—and thus hope for peace—remains fragile and uncertain.

For those who haven’t listened:
This episode offers a comprehensive lens into how geopolitics, resource extraction, and neglected crises intertwine, and how the world’s hunger for gold becomes, in Sudan, a literal engine of war.