US Imposes Sanctions on Network Alleged of Channeling Colombian Mercenaries to the Sudanese Conflict.

The United States has enforced penalties on a group of four individuals and four companies charged of hiring former Colombian soldiers to support and educate a militia force in Sudan which the US alleges of acts of genocide.

Group Makeup

Revealing the measures on Tuesday, the American treasury stated the operation was primarily made up of Colombian citizens and firms.

Hundreds of former Colombian military personnel have reportedly travelled to Sudan to operate with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a faction implicated in terrible atrocities including ethnically targeted slaughter and large-scale abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The participation of ex-soldiers was first uncovered the previous year, after an report which revealed that hundreds of former soldiers had been recruited to fight – an event that resulted in an unprecedented apology from officials in Bogotá.

Former Colombian military have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their considerable warzone knowledge acquired during a long-running domestic war, training on Western military gear, and high-level combat training.

Reported Actions

In the conflict, the contractors have allegedly instructed underage fighters, provided drone warfare training, and fought directly on the frontlines. A mercenary remarked that training children was "terrible and insane" but added that "unfortunately that’s how war is".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those penalized was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a dual Colombian-Italian national and retired Colombian military officer located in the United Arab Emirates. The government said he had a pivotal function in hiring and sending former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was similarly targeted.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who authorities say oversaw a company implicated in handling funds and payroll for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, US-based firms associated with Duque conducted numerous wire transfers, amounting to millions," the official announcement noted.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the other individual to be penalized, with the firm she operated said to have conducted wire transfers associated with Duque and his operations.

"Washington reiterates its demand for external actors to cease providing financial and military support to the combatants," the agency said in a statement.

Reaction

Elizabeth Dickinson, from a conflict think tank, labeled the actions as a "very significant" milestone, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the right way to go".

She added that, Bogotá has enacted a law endorsing the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, seeking to reduce decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and reshape domestic defense strategy.

A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, advised additional measures, stating that "penalties are required yet incomplete for addressing rampant mercenarism".

"This is a shadow economy and based out of the UAE, which is relatively sanction-proof," he commented. The Emirati government has been widely accused of arming the RSF, allegations it disputes. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," he advised.