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The United States has imposed sanctions on a network of four people and four firms alleged of enlisting Colombian mercenaries to support and educate a armed faction in Sudan which the US alleges of genocidal acts.

Operation Structure

Announcing the measures on Tuesday, the Treasury stated the operation was mostly comprised of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Numerous of former Colombian military personnel have been recruited to go to Sudan to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a force accused of horrific war crimes including ethnically targeted slaughter and mass abductions.

Emergence of Involvement

The participation of ex-soldiers was first uncovered the previous year, prompted by an inquiry which found that hundreds of retired troops had been contracted to engage in combat – an revelation that led to an rare mea culpa from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

These South American veterans have historically been seen as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their considerable warzone knowledge acquired during decades of civil war, familiarity with Western military gear, and superior tactical education.

Role in the Conflict

In the Sudanese theater, the Colombians have been accused of teaching child soldiers, taught fighters to pilot drones, and fought directly on the frontlines. An individual involved previously stated that training children was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "unfortunately that’s how war is".

Named Entities

Among those penalized was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and retired Colombian military officer operating from the UAE. The government said he had a central role in recruiting and deploying mercenaries to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was also sanctioned.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who the Treasury stated ran a firm implicated in processing money and salaries for the recruitment operation. "Over the past two years, companies in the United States linked to Duque conducted numerous wire transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the Treasury statement noted.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the company she managed said to have conducted wire transfers associated with Duque and his businesses.

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

Expert Analysis

An expert, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, called the actions as a "very significant" milestone, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the correct approach".

She added that, Colombia recently passed a law approving the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, designed to limit decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and transform domestic defense strategy.

Another expert, an expert on mercenaries, called for greater wariness, noting that "restrictions are needed but not enough for dealing with the growing mercenary trade".

"It’s an illicit economy and operating from the UAE, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he said. The UAE has been repeatedly implicated of providing arms to the militia, an accusation it has denied. "This trend will probably continue," he advised.