Section Four
In addition to installing cranes, the UAE has also upgraded its warehousing infrastructure and built a 250-kilometer highway that connects Berbera to Ethiopia, a rapidly growing neighboring country.
DP World’s 30-year lease agreement for the deep-water port of Berbera was negotiated alongside a vague and non-transparent deal that gave the UAE control of a naval and military base near the port, as well as access to a Soviet-era airstrip.
Recent satellite images also show the construction of military shelters and new military facilities near the airstrip.
These arrangements clearly illustrate the UAE’s approach: Dubai, the smaller partner in the United Arab Emirates federation, has gained its share by acting as a commercial intermediary, while Abu Dhabi, the center of political power and oil dollars, is responsible for security matters, including overseeing shipping routes and countering regional threats from Somali pirates to Yemeni Houthis and other armed Islamist groups.
In this process, a declining asset has been revitalized for the 21st century. The port of Berbera is now poised to become the gateway to the landlocked Ethiopian market, with a population of about 120 million.
In 2023, the World Bank and SP Global ranked this port as the most efficient port in Sub-Saharan Africa.
DP World has committed to doubling the port’s capacity, provided that Somaliland can overcome the geopolitical constraints that have so far prevented Ethiopia from shifting its trade from neighboring Djibouti to another route.
Regional tensions over Somaliland’s controversial bid for international recognition as an independent and sovereign state are also a serious obstacle in this path, a bid that the UAE supports and Israel has backed.
In the past five years, the International Holding Company (IHC) has also become one of the main investors in African mining. This company has invested or committed billions of dollars in copper projects in Zambia, gold in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Mali, and iron ore in Mauritania.
Since last year, IHC, through its assets in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has controlled 7% of the global tin supply.
At the same time, Dubai’s position as the main global market for African gold has continued to expand.
Before RSF forces took over the gold refinery in Khartoum, the Central Bank of Sudan was also increasing its gold reserves. According to former Khartoum officials, these reserves had reached 72 tons by October 2021, when RSF paramilitary forces allied with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to overthrow the transitional government.
Amidst the war and escalating conflict between the two factions, different narratives have emerged about the fate of these reserves.
The civilian government under RSF control denies that the group played a role in the looting that occurred during that period. A spokesperson for the group also emphatically denied the claim of gold bars being transferred to the UAE via South Sudan at that time.
An Emirati official did not directly respond to Financial Times’ questions about this theft but said the country has established a robust regulatory framework to maximize the security, integrity, and transparency of every gold transaction, and these regulations are fully enforced at all entry points.
The official also noted that in 2025, the value of Sudanese gold passing through the UAE was slightly over 1 billion dollars, a figure that represents a small share of the UAE’s 300 billion dollar gold market.
However, according to research by several research institutions, including Chatham House, which published a comprehensive study on the subject last year, gold exported from Sudan to the UAE continues to help finance the civil war.
A significant portion of the gold produced by Sudan’s traditional and small-scale mines — estimated by Swissaid to be over 40 tons annually — is smuggled to Dubai without being officially subject to government taxation.
This gold includes gold from mines controlled by Al Junaid, a holding company owned by the family of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who has been sanctioned by both the US Treasury Department and the UK.
In response to the allegations of gold smuggling, an Emirati official said the country is acting in accordance with the best international practices in its efforts to combat money laundering and strengthen responsible gold sourcing.
The official added that the UAE, as a global trade center, recognizes that economic prosperity must be based on transparency and accountability.
As the UAE’s presence in Africa expands, African elites have also made Dubai their second home, a city that vividly illustrates the contradictions in the evolving relationships between this small desert country and the vast continent the UAE seeks to exploit.
On one hand, Dubai is an important commercial and intermediary hub and a suitable financial center through which official trade and investment with Africa are conducted. In 2025, 30,409 African companies were registered with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.