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The Washington has levied restrictions on a group of four people and four firms accused of recruiting Colombian mercenaries to combat alongside and instruct a armed faction in Sudan that Washington accuses of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Disclosing the measures on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the scheme was primarily made up of Colombian nationals and companies.

Scores of former Colombian military personnel have reportedly travelled to the Sudanese warzone to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a force linked to horrific war crimes including targeted ethnic killings and mass abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries was first uncovered in 2024, prompted by an inquiry which found that over three hundred former soldiers had been recruited to fight – an event that prompted an unprecedented apology from officials in Bogotá.

Colombian ex-soldiers have historically been seen as highly prized fighters in conflict zones due to their extensive battlefield experience resulting from years of internal conflict, knowledge of Western military gear, and high-level combat training.

Role in the Conflict

In the Sudanese theater, the contractors have allegedly instructed underage fighters, taught fighters to pilot drones, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary previously stated that training children was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "unfortunately that’s how war is".

Named Entities

Among those targeted was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a dual Colombian-Italian national and retired Colombian military officer located in the Dubai. The Treasury said he had a central role in hiring and sending former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Oliveros, was similarly targeted.

Also on the restricted list was Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated ran a firm implicated in handling funds and payroll for the scheme. "Recently, companies in the United States associated with Duque carried out several money transfers, worth millions," the government release noted.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted wire transfers connected to Duque and his businesses.

"The United States again calls on foreign parties to cease providing monetary and weaponry aid to the combatants," the department said in a statement.

Reaction

Elizabeth Dickinson, from a conflict think tank, labeled the measures as a "very significant" step, noting that "targeting the enablers is the proper strategy".

It was also noted that, Colombia recently passed a law endorsing the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb decades of Colombian involvement in overseas wars and change its security approach.

Sean McFate, a scholar on the subject, urged more caution, saying that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for addressing rampant mercenarism".

"It operates in the black market and based out of the Emirates, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he said. The United Arab Emirates has been frequently alleged of arming the RSF, an accusation it has denied. "Expect more Colombian mercenaries," McFate warned.