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The Washington has enforced penalties on a group of four individuals and four companies charged of hiring former Colombian soldiers to support and educate a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of committing genocide.

Network Composition

Disclosing the measures on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the operation was primarily made up of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Hundreds of retired Colombian troops have been recruited to go to the Sudanese warzone to combat beside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a force implicated in horrific war crimes including ethnically targeted slaughter and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The involvement of Colombian fighters initially emerged in 2024, following an report which disclosed that more than 300 retired troops had been contracted to fight – an revelation that resulted in an rare mea culpa from the Colombian government.

Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their extensive battlefield experience acquired during a long-running domestic war, knowledge of Western military gear, and elite military instruction.

Role in the Conflict

In the conflict, the contractors have been accused of teaching underage fighters, provided drone warfare training, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary remarked that training children was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "unfortunately that’s how war is".

Targeted Persons

Among those targeted was a retired Colombian officer, a individual with dual citizenship and ex-soldier based in the Dubai. The Treasury alleged he played a pivotal function in enlisting and transporting ex-military personnel to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Oliveros, was also sanctioned.

Also on the restricted list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual national who authorities say managed a business linked to processing money and salaries for the network. "Over the past two years, American entities associated with Duque conducted multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the official announcement noted.

Citizen of Colombia Mónica Muñoz was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the company she managed alleged to have wire transfers associated with Duque and his companies.

"The United States again calls on external actors to halt the flow of financial and military support to the belligerents," the department stated.

Expert Analysis

A senior analyst, from a conflict think tank, described the measures as a "highly important" development, saying that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the right way to go".

She added that, the Colombian government has enacted a statute approving the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, aiming to curb decades of Colombian involvement in international fights and transform its security approach.

Another expert, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, noting that "restrictions are needed but not enough for addressing widespread use of contractors".

"It’s an illicit economy and based out of the UAE, which is difficult to penalize," he commented. The UAE has been repeatedly implicated of arming the RSF, an accusation it has denied. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," McFate warned.