🔗 Share this article

The United States has imposed sanctions on a network of several persons and entities alleged of enlisting former Colombian soldiers to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of committing genocide.

Group Makeup

Disclosing the restrictions on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the network was primarily made up of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Hundreds of retired Colombian troops have been recruited to go to Sudan to operate with the Sudanese RSF militia, a group accused of terrible atrocities including massacres based on ethnicity and large-scale abductions.

Revelation of Role

The participation of ex-soldiers was first uncovered in 2024, after an inquiry which revealed that hundreds of ex-military personnel had been contracted to engage in combat – an discovery that resulted in an rare mea culpa from the Colombian government.

Former Colombian military have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their considerable warzone knowledge acquired during a long-running domestic war, familiarity with advanced weaponry, and superior tactical education.

Activities in Sudan

In the Sudanese theater, the mercenaries have allegedly instructed minors, provided drone warfare training, and engaged in frontline combat. An individual involved previously stated that working with child soldiers was "awful and crazy" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Named Entities

Among those penalized was a retired Colombian officer, a dual Colombian-Italian national and retired Colombian military officer operating from the United Arab Emirates. The US authorities said he had a key part in hiring and sending mercenaries to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Oliveros, was similarly targeted.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated ran a firm implicated in processing money and salaries for the network. "Recently, companies in the United States connected to Duque conducted multiple financial transactions, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement stated.

Citizen of Colombia Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be sanctioned, with the firm she operated said to have conducted financial transactions connected to Duque and his operations.

"The US once more urges foreign parties to cease providing monetary and weaponry aid to the warring parties," the agency said in a statement.

Reaction

A senior analyst, from a conflict think tank, labeled the measures as a "very significant" development, noting that "identifying the recruiters is the proper strategy".

She added that, the Colombian government has enacted a law endorsing the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and change domestic defense strategy.

Another expert, a authority on private military contractors, called for greater wariness, stating that "restrictions are needed but not enough for addressing the growing mercenary trade".

"It operates in the black market and operating from the Emirates, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he said. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of providing arms to the militia, claims it rejects. "This trend will probably continue," the expert cautioned.