While the Emirates have established themselves over the years as preferred buyers of African gold, controls on the origin of imported products leave much to be desired.

In the early hours of April 11, 2019, in the early hours of the Sudanese revolution, a private jet landed in Khartoum, with an emissary of Sheikh Mohamed Ibn Zayed Al Nahyan (aka MBZ), Emir of Abu Dhabi, on board. Among the objectives of his mission, to preserve the influence of Abu Dhabi in the country, and to ensure the future of the gold trade between the two countries.

It must be said that Sudan was one of the main suppliers of smuggled gold to Dubai between 2012 and 2018, depriving Khartoum of more than $500 million in tax revenue.

And while the Emirates imports more than 450 tons of gold from Africa each year, shipments are subject to only rudimentary forms, after which traders are free to resell their goods.

Special ties to Khartoum

"The biggest discrepancy in value between what Sudan says it exports and what its trading partners say it imports is in trade with the United Arab Emirates," says Lakshmi Kumar, who led a research team for the Washington, DC-based NGO Global Financial Integrity.

When the tide began to turn for Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum, Dubai was able to forge close ties with one of the country's new strongmen, the Emirate.When the tide began to turn for Omar al-Bashir in Khartoum, Dubai was able to forge close ties with one of the country's new strongmen, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as "Hemetti", the number two in the transitional government and, via his family, the owner of gold mines in Darfur.

20% of the economy linked to gold

These "privileged connections" go far beyond Sudan. Figures from the UN's Comtrade database show that Africa's share of Dubai's gold imports rose from 16% to 50% between 2006 and 2016.

Non-oil trade between Abu Dhabi and African states reached $252 billion between 2011 and 2018, making the country one of the continent's largest trading partners.

The UAE is among the top 10 sources of investment in Africa, much of it in the mining sector, including funding for a series of mini-refineries. The gold trade accounts for about 20% of the country's economy.

"Lack of national and international pressure

Although its main trading hub, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, claims to meet "international criteria" for responsible sourcing as defined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), it has not been able to meet these criteria.and Development (OECD) - which requires full traceability of traded products - independent studies tend to dispute this.

In April, the Financial Action Task Force (fATF), a u.s.-based intergovernmental institution dedicated to combating money laundering and terrorist financing, placed Dubai on its watch list, complaining about the limited number of money laundering prosecutions. Kleptocrats and oligarchs are under even less scrutiny in Dubai than in other destinations such as London and Switzerland.

A lengthy report on Dubai's financial and business sector by the U.S.-based Carnegie Foundation concludes that the emirate's "highly personalized institutions" and " lack of national and international pressure" mean that "Emirati elites are free to resist reforms that jeopardize their interests or their political vision for Dubai and the UAE as a whole.

Recognition of Israel

Attempts by Western governments to enlist Abu Dhabi to help in the fight against illicit financial flows such as gold smuggling may be hampered by the need for a reliable ally in the Gulf.

African states will face difficult choices in managing the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. Many will seek to reduce revenue losses from gold smuggling, but will find it difficult to address the vested interests that benefit from the region's thriving illicit trade with Dubai.