The Revenue Sources Sustaining Sudan’s Civil War. Lessons for the year 2023
Wars require money and resources, and often, most conflicts involve controlling sources of income and supply lines or denying them to enemies. This has been the case in Sudan’s past conflicts and is again as the civil war—between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), commanded by General Abdelfattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohammed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti” —has sunk into a protracted conflict.
Since the beginning of the conflict, both the regular army and the rebel forces have consolidated their strength through internal and external sources of revenue. They benefit from significant economic networks and a political economy long based on patronage. Control of gold mining areas, oil infrastructure, and the taxation of trade flows have become strategic for financing military operations. The forces involved are supported by foreign partners, from Africa, Turkey, and the Middle East.
This study has been produced by the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) for the Direction générale des relations internationales et de la stratégie du ministère des Armées. It has been carried out within the partnership between the Observatory of Central and East Africa and the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA-Nairobi).
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The Revenue Sources Sustaining Sudan’s Civil War. Lessons for the year 2023
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