US sanctions Colombian group for sending mercenaries to Sudan
Four Colombian nationals have been sanctioned by the United States for allegedly recruiting Colombian mercenaries to fight in Sudan’s civil war, according to The New Arab via AFP.
On December 9th, the US Treasury Department announced that it was imposing sanctions on the individuals alongside the four private businesses they run. The US alleged that they compose a network that recruits former Colombian military personnel to fight for the Sudanese rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023, was accused of committing genocide by the US in January 2025, with Washington subsequently sanctioning the group’s leader for his complicity.
Upon imposing the sanctions on the Colombian nationals for aiding the Sudanese paramilitaries, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John Hurley stated that “the RSF has shown again and again that it is willing to target civilians – including infants and young children.”
He added that “its brutality has deepened the conflict and destabilised the region, creating the conditions for terrorist groups to grow.”
The US identified the Colombian individuals running the “transnational network” to profit from Sudan’s conflict as Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, Mateo Andres Duque Botero and Monica Munoz Ucros, according to Al-Jazeera on December 9th.
Becerra, a retired Colombian military officer now living in the UAE, allegedly played “a central role in recruiting and deploying former Colombian military personnel to Sudan.”
The presence of Colombian mercenaries in Sudan fighting for the RSF has been reported by the Sudanese military before. It also claimed in August that the air force shot down an Emirati aircraft carrying Colombian fighters as it was landing at an airport in Darfur under RSF control.
A recent report published by The Sentry, an investigative and policy organisation, unveiled a direct link between highly influential Emirati figures and Colombian mercenaries – operating under the label “Desert Wolves” – fighting in Sudan and training child soldiers for the RSF.
It stated that a UAE-registered company, the Global Security Services Group (GSSG) arranges “the deployment of the Colombian mercenaries to Sudan” and has ties to Emirati Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, commended the US sanctions as a “very significant” milestone and said that “calling out those who are doing the contracting is the right way to go”, according to The Guardian on December 9th.
The New Arab via AFP, Maghrebi.org, Al-Jazeera, The Guardian
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