🔗 Share this article

The United States has imposed sanctions on a group of four people and four firms alleged of recruiting former Colombian soldiers to support and educate a Sudanese paramilitary group the United States claims of committing genocide.

Group Makeup

Revealing the restrictions on Tuesday, the US Treasury Department stated the network was mostly comprised of Colombian nationals and companies.

Numerous of retired Colombian troops have allegedly journeyed to Sudan to operate with the Sudanese RSF militia, a force implicated in terrible atrocities encompassing ethnically targeted slaughter and mass abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries initially emerged last year, after an inquiry which found that hundreds of retired troops had been recruited to engage in combat – an discovery that led to an unusual statement of regret from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

These South American veterans have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their extensive battlefield experience resulting from decades of civil war, knowledge of Western military gear, and high-level combat training.

Activities in Sudan

In Sudan, the mercenaries have allegedly instructed minors, provided drone warfare training, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary remarked that training children was "awful and crazy" but noted that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Targeted Persons

Among those sanctioned was a retired Colombian officer, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and ex-soldier based in the UAE. The Treasury alleged he played a central role in hiring and sending former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was also sanctioned.

Also on the penalty list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated managed a business accused of managing finances and payments for the network. "Over the past two years, American entities associated with Duque carried out multiple financial transactions, amounting to millions," the official announcement stated.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz was the fourth individual to be penalized, with the entity she oversaw accused of financial transactions linked to Duque and his operations.

"The US once more urges external actors to stop giving financial and military support to the warring parties," the Treasury said in a statement.

Reaction

A senior analyst, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, labeled the actions as a "major" step, saying that "targeting the enablers is the proper strategy".

She added that, Colombia ratified a statute endorsing the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and change national security policy.

Another expert, a scholar on the subject, urged more caution, noting that "restrictions are needed but not enough for combating widespread use of contractors".

"It operates in the black market and operating from Dubai, which is difficult to penalize," he stated. The United Arab Emirates has been widely accused of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," McFate warned.