The US government has imposed sanctions on a network of several persons and entities alleged of hiring former Colombian soldiers to support and educate a armed faction in Sudan which the US alleges of genocidal acts.
Disclosing the sanctions on Tuesday, the Treasury stated the scheme was largely composed of Colombian citizens and firms.
Numerous of ex-soldiers from Colombia have allegedly journeyed to the conflict in Sudan to combat beside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group implicated in terrible atrocities encompassing massacres based on ethnicity and mass abductions.
The participation of ex-soldiers was first uncovered the previous year, following an report which disclosed that hundreds of former soldiers had been recruited to fight – an discovery that prompted an rare mea culpa from Colombia’s foreign ministry.
Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as highly prized fighters in conflict zones due to their extensive battlefield experience gleaned from a long-running domestic war, knowledge of advanced weaponry, and high-level combat training.
In the Sudanese theater, the mercenaries have reportedly trained underage fighters, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary previously stated that instructing minors was "horrific and irrational" but noted that "regrettably, war operates that way".
Among those targeted was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a individual with dual citizenship and former army officer based in the UAE. The Treasury alleged he played a central role in recruiting and deploying ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was also sanctioned.
Also on the penalty list was Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who officials alleged ran a firm accused of processing money and salaries for the recruitment operation. "Recently, US-based firms linked to Duque engaged in several money transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement noted.
Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be targeted, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted financial transactions connected to Duque and his companies.
"Washington reiterates its demand for outside forces to halt the flow of monetary and weaponry aid to the warring parties," the Treasury stated.
A senior analyst, with the International Crisis Group, described the measures as a "highly important" milestone, saying that "identifying the recruiters is the proper strategy".
Furthermore, the Colombian government ratified a law endorsing the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, seeking to reduce its citizens' long history in foreign conflicts and change its security approach.
A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, stating that "penalties are required yet incomplete for dealing with rampant mercenarism".
"This is a shadow economy and operating from the UAE, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he said. The Emirati government has been widely accused of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, allegations it disputes. "This trend will probably continue," the expert cautioned.
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