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The US government has imposed sanctions on a group of four individuals and four companies charged of recruiting Colombian mercenaries to support and educate a Sudanese paramilitary group that Washington accuses of committing genocide.

Group Makeup

Announcing the sanctions on Tuesday, the Treasury stated the operation was largely composed of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Hundreds of ex-soldiers from Colombia have reportedly travelled to the Sudanese warzone to fight alongside the RSF paramilitary group, a group implicated in horrific war crimes encompassing targeted ethnic killings and mass abductions.

Emergence of Involvement

The role of these mercenaries was first uncovered in 2024, prompted by an report which revealed that hundreds of retired troops had been hired to fight – an discovery that prompted an rare mea culpa from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

Colombian ex-soldiers have historically been seen as among the world’s most sought-after mercenaries due to their extensive battlefield experience resulting from a long-running domestic war, knowledge of Western military gear, and superior tactical education.

Reported Actions

In the conflict, the mercenaries have been accused of teaching underage fighters, provided drone warfare training, and fought directly on the frontlines. An individual involved previously stated that training children was "horrific and irrational" but noted that "sadly, that is the nature of conflict".

Named Entities

Among those targeted was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a individual with dual citizenship and former army officer located in the UAE. The government said he had a central role in recruiting and deploying mercenaries to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was also sanctioned.

Also on the restricted list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated ran a firm implicated in managing finances and payments for the scheme. "Over the past two years, US-based firms connected to Duque engaged in numerous wire transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the government release stated.

Individual Mónica Muñoz was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the company she managed said to have conducted financial transactions linked to Duque and his operations.

"The US once more urges foreign parties to stop giving funding and arms to the warring parties," the agency said in a statement.

Reaction

An expert, with the International Crisis Group, labeled the measures as a "major" milestone, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the proper strategy".

Furthermore, the Colombian government recently passed a law endorsing the anti-mercenary convention, aiming to curb decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and transform domestic defense strategy.

Another expert, a authority on private military contractors, urged more caution, stating that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for addressing the growing mercenary trade".

"It operates in the black market and based out of the UAE, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he commented. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "This trend will probably continue," he advised.