🔗 Share this article

The Washington has levied restrictions on a operation of four individuals and four companies alleged of enlisting South American contractors to combat alongside and instruct a militia force in Sudan which the US alleges of genocidal acts.

Group Makeup

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

Hundreds of former Colombian military personnel have reportedly travelled to the conflict in Sudan to fight alongside the RSF paramilitary group, a force accused of terrible atrocities including massacres based on ethnicity and mass abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries first came to light the previous year, prompted by an investigation which found that hundreds of former soldiers had been hired to fight – an revelation that prompted an unprecedented apology from the Colombian government.

Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as among the world’s most sought-after mercenaries due to their vast combat experience resulting from a long-running domestic war, training on advanced weaponry, and superior tactical education.

Reported Actions

In Sudan, the Colombians have been accused of teaching underage fighters, taught fighters to pilot drones, and engaged in frontline combat. One source was quoted as saying that training children was "terrible and insane" but noted that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those sanctioned was a retired Colombian officer, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and retired Colombian military officer based in the United Arab Emirates. The US authorities alleged he played a central role in recruiting and deploying ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was also sanctioned.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who the Treasury stated oversaw a company linked to managing finances and payments for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States linked to Duque engaged in multiple financial transactions, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement stated.

Individual Mónica Muñoz was the final person to be sanctioned, with the firm she operated said to have conducted wire transfers connected to Duque and his operations.

"The US once more urges external actors to stop giving funding and arms to the combatants," the agency announced.

Expert Analysis

An expert, with the International Crisis Group, labeled the measures as a "very significant" step, saying that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the proper strategy".

She added that, Bogotá has enacted a law ratifying the global treaty against mercenarism, designed to limit years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and change its security approach.

A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, stating that "penalties are required yet incomplete for combating the growing mercenary trade".

"It operates in the black market and based out of Dubai, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he stated. The UAE has been frequently alleged of arming the RSF, allegations it disputes. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," he advised.