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The US government has imposed sanctions on a network of four individuals and four companies accused of recruiting Colombian mercenaries to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of committing genocide.

Group Makeup

Announcing the measures on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the network was mostly comprised of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Scores of former Colombian military personnel have allegedly journeyed to the conflict in Sudan to combat beside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group implicated in severe violations encompassing targeted ethnic killings and large-scale abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The involvement of Colombian fighters initially emerged in 2024, after an report which disclosed that over three hundred former soldiers had been recruited to engage in combat – an event that resulted in an rare mea culpa from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their considerable warzone knowledge gleaned from years of internal conflict, training on Nato equipment, and superior tactical education.

Reported Actions

In the Sudanese theater, the Colombians have been accused of teaching child soldiers, provided drone warfare training, and participated in direct battles. An individual involved was quoted as saying that instructing minors was "terrible and insane" but commented that "unfortunately that’s how war is".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those sanctioned was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a dual Colombian-Italian national and retired Colombian military officer based in the UAE. The Treasury said he had a pivotal function in enlisting and transporting former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was similarly targeted.

Also on the restricted list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who officials alleged ran a firm accused of managing finances and payments for the scheme. "In 2024 and 2025, US-based firms associated with Duque engaged in several money transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement said.

Individual Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the other individual to be penalized, with the firm she operated accused of financial transactions linked to Duque and his operations.

"The United States again calls on external actors to cease providing financial and military support to the combatants," the department said in a statement.

Expert Analysis

An expert, from a conflict think tank, called the actions as a "highly important" milestone, noting that "targeting the enablers is the right way to go".

She added that, Colombia ratified a law ratifying the anti-mercenary convention, seeking to reduce years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and transform national security policy.

Another expert, a authority on private military contractors, called for greater wariness, saying that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for addressing rampant mercenarism".

"This is a shadow economy and based out of the Emirates, which is difficult to penalize," he stated. The United Arab Emirates has been repeatedly implicated of providing arms to the militia, an accusation it has denied. "This trend will probably continue," he advised.