- Kenya serves as a key transit hub for smuggling gold from conflict-affected regions in Africa.
- Most of Kenya's gold production stems from undocumented artisanal and small-scale mining activities.
- In 2023, Kenya officially reported 672 kilograms of gold exports, though smuggled exports likely exceed two tons annually.
Kenya has emerged as a major transit hub for gold smuggled out of African countries plagued by conflict and weak governance.
Kenya serves as a hub for smuggled gold from other African countries
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Kenya has emerged as a major transit hub for gold smuggled out of African countries plagued by conflict and weak governance, according to a new report by SwissAid, a non-governmental organization focused on development and resource justice.
Most of the country’s gold output comes from artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), a largely informal sector outside official state monitoring.
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As a result, the majority of Kenya’s gold production goes unrecorded. While illicit gold exports are estimated to exceed two tons each year, only 672 kilograms were officially declared in 2023, according to a Bern-based organization.
"Part of the gold that is smuggled out of South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and, to a lesser extent, Ethiopia, and possibly Sudan passes through Kenya before being ultimately reexported," according to the report.
Most, if not all, of the gold extracted in Kenya, or imported into the country, is eventually exported.
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Export routes of smuggled gold
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Most of the gold smuggled out of Kenya is shipped to Dubai, where it is officially declared upon import, according to the report. Other common destinations include India and South Africa. The report also suggests that Kenya may serve as a transit hub for gold originating from Sudan, a country engulfed in civil war since 2023.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s officially declared gold output, mainly from two licensed medium-scale mines, is exported to refiners in South Africa and Switzerland.
A previous report by the same organization warned that revenues from this illicit gold trade are helping to fuel conflict, fund criminal and terrorist networks, undermine democratic institutions, and facilitate large-scale money laundering.
