US Sanctions Network Allegedly Recruits Colombian Fighters for Sudan Civil War

The US imposed sanctions on a network of mercenaries involved in the civil war in Sudan, thus revealing the international dimension of the war. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that eight individuals and organizations, most of them Colombians, support the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan by recruiting former Colombian soldiers.

Since 2024, hundreds of Colombian mercenaries have travelled to Sudan to fight in the ranks of the RSF; some as infantry and some as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pilots. They deceive these soldiers with fake job postings, often offered as "low-risk security jobs", and attract them to war zones. Experts point out that this is the result of years of armed conflict and economic hardships in Colombia.

Colombian soldiers, after years of fighting drug cartels and armed groups, are trying to survive on insufficient pensions. “After twenty years, the number of soldiers who retired without sufficient source of income has increased, so more and more Colombians are looking for jobs abroad,” academic and former officer Alfonso Manzur summarized the picture.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro says that those who fight for money in other countries should be held criminally responsible. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also states that its citizens are deceived by "sophisticated human trafficking networks" and used as mercenaries in international conflicts.

All these developments clearly show that the war in Sudan is not just a regional issue, but that it has turned into a complex network of interests and businesses stretching from Latin America to the Middle East and Africa. The US Treasury Department's OFAC imposed sanctions on an international network that provided mercenaries to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the civil war in Sudan. RSF has been fighting the Sudanese military since April 2023 and is accused of genocide and war crimes for its attacks on civilians, especially women and children. There are four people and four organizations in this mercenary network. Most of them are former Colombian soldiers. They give them tactical support, and are even said to train child warriors. At the head of the network is a Colombian-Italian officer currently living in the UAE.

The UAE also denies the allegations that they provided weapons to the RSF. Colombian warriors participated in the war on many fronts from Khartoum to Omdurman, from Kordofan to Al-Fasher. More than 5 thousand civilians lost their lives when RSF captured Al-Fasher in October 2025. According to the data of the World Health Organization, 114 people, including 63 children, died in the attacks on a nursery and hospital in South Kordofan.

US President Donald Trump called these conflicts “brutality” and announced that they would work with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for a solution. About 12 million Sudanese left their homes because of the civil war. In some areas, famine began. 
 

REFERENCES:

Khalil, H. (2025, December 10). US sanctions network it says recruits Colombian fighters for Sudan's civil war. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93nxqw00xxo