🔗 Share this article

The United States has levied restrictions on a operation of several persons and entities charged of recruiting South American contractors to support and educate a armed faction in Sudan that Washington accuses of acts of genocide.

Group Makeup

Revealing the restrictions on Tuesday, the American treasury stated the network was largely composed of Colombian citizens and firms.

Hundreds of retired Colombian troops have allegedly journeyed to Sudan to operate with the Sudanese RSF militia, a group implicated in severe violations including massacres based on ethnicity and widespread kidnappings.

Emergence of Involvement

The participation of ex-soldiers initially emerged last year, following an inquiry which found that more than 300 retired troops had been hired to participate in the war – an discovery that resulted in an rare mea culpa from the Colombian government.

Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their extensive battlefield experience acquired during decades of civil war, training on advanced weaponry, and high-level combat training.

Activities in Sudan

In the Sudanese theater, the contractors have allegedly instructed minors, provided drone warfare training, and participated in direct battles. An individual involved previously stated that working with child soldiers was "terrible and insane" but commented that "sadly, that is the nature of conflict".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those targeted was a dual national, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and retired Colombian military officer located in the Dubai. The US authorities accused him a central role in recruiting and deploying mercenaries to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was also sanctioned.

Also on the restricted list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who authorities say oversaw a company linked to managing finances and payments for the network. "Recently, companies in the United States connected to Duque engaged in several money transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement stated.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be targeted, with the firm she operated said to have conducted wire transfers connected to Duque and his companies.

"The US once more urges external actors to cease providing financial and military support to the belligerents," the department announced.

Reaction

Elizabeth Dickinson, with the International Crisis Group, described the sanctions as a "major" milestone, saying that "identifying the recruiters is the correct approach".

Furthermore, Colombia recently passed a statute approving the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb years of participation by its nationals in international fights and change its security approach.

Another expert, a scholar on the subject, advised additional measures, stating that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for dealing with widespread use of contractors".

"It operates in the black market and based out of the Emirates, which is relatively sanction-proof," he said. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of providing arms to the militia, an accusation it has denied. "This trend will probably continue," McFate warned.