🔗 Share this article

The US government has levied restrictions on a network of four people and four firms accused of recruiting Colombian mercenaries to combat alongside and instruct a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of genocidal acts.

Operation Structure

Announcing the measures on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the scheme was primarily made up of Colombian citizens and firms.

Hundreds of former Colombian military personnel have been recruited to go to the Sudanese warzone to fight alongside the RSF paramilitary group, a group implicated in severe violations encompassing massacres based on ethnicity and large-scale abductions.

Revelation of Role

The role of these mercenaries was first uncovered in 2024, after an inquiry which revealed that more than 300 former soldiers had been recruited to fight – an discovery that led to an unprecedented apology from officials in Bogotá.

These South American veterans have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their vast combat experience resulting from decades of civil war, familiarity with advanced weaponry, and superior tactical education.

Reported Actions

In the conflict, the contractors have allegedly instructed minors, provided drone warfare training, and engaged in frontline combat. One source previously stated that working with child soldiers was "awful and crazy" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those sanctioned was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and ex-soldier operating from the United Arab Emirates. The Treasury said he had a pivotal function in recruiting and deploying mercenaries to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was similarly targeted.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated ran a firm linked to handling funds and payroll for the scheme. "Over the past two years, US-based firms associated with Duque conducted multiple financial transactions, amounting to millions," the Treasury statement said.

Individual Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted money transfers connected to Duque and his operations.

"Washington reiterates its demand for outside forces to cease providing monetary and weaponry aid to the belligerents," the Treasury said in a statement.

Expert Analysis

Elizabeth Dickinson, with the International Crisis Group, described the actions as a "highly important" milestone, stating that "targeting the enablers is the correct approach".

She added that, the Colombian government recently passed a statute ratifying the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb years of participation by its nationals in international fights and transform national security policy.

Sean McFate, a authority on private military contractors, called for greater wariness, saying that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for dealing with rampant mercenarism".

"This is a shadow economy and based out of the Emirates, which is relatively sanction-proof," he stated. The United Arab Emirates has been frequently alleged of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, claims it rejects. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," McFate warned.