The war in Sudan has carved out new routes and revived forgotten ones, breathing unexpected life into a parallel economy across remote regions long deprived of the infrastructure and basic services needed to support such high-stakes commercial activity.
Al-Na’am Market lies 14 kilometres north of Abyei, within a demilitarised zone administered as part of the disputed Abyei Area between Sudan and South Sudan. Today, it is considered one of the most significant nodes of the war economy—an economy that spills across national borders and remains subject only to nominal regulation, far removed from the formal financial and trade systems meant to govern commercial activity. Before the war, Al-Na’am was a strictly local market, frequented by a small number of residents from nearby villages and completely dormant during the rainy season. But it began to flourish once the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) expanded across Kordofan and the east of the country became cut off from the west.
With the outbreak of war, when markets were destroyed, warehouses torched, and goods looted and redistributed to distant areas—the name Al-Na’am Market suddenly surfaced. A new adjacent market also appeared, quickly gaining notoriety as Daglo Market, one of dozens of informal bazaars where looted items were sold. Collectively, they came to be known as “Daglo markets”.
There was no new production after the war, so the country became entirely dependent on goods entering through Al-Na’am—the only functioning gateway between Sudan and South Sudan.”
Trader at Al-Na’am Market
Speaking to Atar, one trader—who requested anonymity—explained that a small marketplace for stolen goods emerged just beside the main Al-Na’am Market. Over time, the two expanded until they merged, and traders began to transport in a diverse range of commodities through South Sudan: biscuits, soaps, juices (packaged and liquid), and clothing of all kinds. “People urgently needed food and basic goods,” he said. “Commercial activity in Khartoum, Al-Jazirah, and Kordofan had been destroyed. There was simply nothing left to sell.” Al-Na’am thus became a vital gateway into Sudan from the south, opening a channel through which consumer goods flowed into Kordofan and Darfur, meeting the essential needs of local populations facing acute shortages.
South Sudan became a crucial corridor for trade along routes that had been impassable before the war. Another trader from Al-Na’am told Atar that goods from far-flung sources—Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, India, Japan, Turkey, France, and from across East and West Africa including Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Mali, and Chad—made their way into Al-Na’am after the war began. By the end of 2023, he noted, most Sudan-produced food items had expired: “There was no new production after the war, so the country became entirely dependent on goods entering through Al-Na’am—the only functioning gateway between Sudan and South Sudan.”
As Sudan plunged into a nationwide crisis in the pharmaceutical sector, medicines entering through Al-Na’am became the main supply for pharmacists and doctors. A medical source in Al-Obeid—which was under RSF siege from May 2023 to February 2025—told Atar, “After the siege began, medicine stocks vanished and the little remaining became prohibitively expensive. Medical authorities had no idea how to solve the crisis under siege conditions—until pharmaceuticals began flowing into Al-Na’am from across Africa, Europe, and the Arab world, eventually reaching hospitals and pharmacies in Al-Obeid.”
Money negotiates its own pathways. A network of traders and intermediaries managed to bring in medicines despite the siege. That flow saved lives.
Medical source in Al-Obeid
He continued, “Money negotiates its own pathways. A network of traders and financial intermediaries managed to bring in a wide array of medicines despite the siege. That flow saved lives—treating the sick and the war-wounded who were falling daily to shelling, airstrikes, and stray fire. Prices dropped, and alternatives for exhausted supplies reappeared.”
The market’s influence extends far beyond its immediate surroundings. Residents of Kadugli and Ad-Dalang—two cities in South Kordofan still under prolonged siege—told Atar that their local markets rely almost entirely on goods arriving from Al-Na’am, now the primary supply centre for southern Kordofan. Noha Joudah from Ad-Dalang confirmed that sugar, biscuits, and many essential food items reach the besieged city through Al-Na’am.
Al-Na’am is not only an import funnel; it has become an indispensable outlet for Sudanese traders exporting agricultural and forest products. Enterprising merchants from Sudan found an opportunity there, exploiting the lack of oversight to export local produce with minimal procedure. A worker at the market told Atar, “Agricultural and forest products—from sesame and peanuts to hibiscus, gum arabic, nabag (buckthorn), dates, onions, and baobab—have all found a lucrative export path. Livestock exchange also took off: Sudanese traders sell sheep and goats in exchange for the large southern cattle known locally as Baqr Majok.”
The market later expanded into petroleum products, imported through Mombasa in Kenya and transported inland via Uganda and South Sudan through Somali and Kenyan intermediaries, according to market sources.
There has never been large-scale trade between East Africa and Sudan like there is now through Al-Na’am.
Trader speaking to Atar
Multiple sources at Al-Na’am told Atar that East African traders have capitalised on the regional trade agreement linking Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan—an agreement that streamlines the cross-border movement of goods. South Sudanese traders, exploiting weak border control and the absence of an effective authority in Sudan, began funneling fuel and a range of commodities into Al-Na’am. The RSF, in turn, depends heavily on the market to supply fuel for its forces in Kordofan and along the South Sudan border.
Another trader explained to Atar how crucial Al-Na’am has become for East African traders: “There has never been large-scale trade between East Africa and Sudan like there is now through Al-Na’am. Sudanese traders bring agricultural products—cowpeas, okra powder, peanuts, gum arabic, sesame—to Al-Na’am, selling them to East African merchants who return with them to their home countries, some for re-export.” Sudanese traders then transport foodstuffs, and especially fuel, from Al-Na’am to Kordofan, Darfur, and South Sudan’s western states. From Al-Na’am, shipments fan out to Abu Zabad, Al-Fula, An-Nuhud, Ad-Daein, and beyond.
Despite its rising importance, the market remains vulnerable to periodic fires. One trader attributes this to the sense of security among merchants under the civil administration of Abyei and the UN police: “People store their goods in makeshift structures—reed mats and other local materials—which makes everything susceptible to fire.”
In addition to benefiting from the East African trade agreement, traders entering from East Africa also take advantage of the low tariffs collected by Abyei’s civil administration. A market source told Atar, “There are minimal fees charged in South Sudan, and the civil administration levies only modest tariffs on goods entering the market.”
Al-Na’am expanded significantly after RSF decrees banning the movement of goods from RSF-controlled areas into army-controlled ones. According to sources, these decisions pushed large volumes of livestock from Kordofan and Darfur into Al-Na’am.
Today, vast sums circulate through the market’s trade in goods and fuel. It is operated by a mosaic of nationalities—Somalis, Kenyans, Ugandans, South Sudanese—alongside Sudanese traders who play a critical role in distributing goods inland and transporting Sudanese agricultural and forest products to Al-Na’am. From there, they move on to East African markets, with some eventually re-exported to Europe and the Arab world. Multiple currencies are in active use: Sudan’s old pound, the South Sudanese pound, the Chadian franc, the Kenyan shilling, the US dollar, and the euro.
