The Middle East Eye published on 19 August 2026 an article titled "UAE-backed Chinese Company Acquires Stake in Ethiopian Gold Mine Near Sudan War Zone" by Zecharias Zelalem and Oscar Rickett.
Last week, Canadian mining company Allied Gold sold a 9.2 percent stake to China's Zijin Gold International. This gives Zijin partial ownership of mines in Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, and near Kurmuk in Ethiopia. The Kurmuk mine is in Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz region, which hosts at least one base used by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The UAE supports the RSF and is the main buyer of gold coming from both Sudan and Ethiopia.
The UAE's sovereign wealth fund has a major share in the parent company of Zijin Gold International and in Canada's Allied Gold. The Ethiopian gold mine puts Chinese, Canadian, and UAE interests close to the civil war between the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces in Sudan's Blue Nile State and raises further questions about the UAE's role in the conflict.
