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The United States has enforced penalties on a group of four people and four firms accused of hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight for and train a armed faction in Sudan the United States claims of committing genocide.

Network Composition

Disclosing the measures on this week, the Treasury stated the network was primarily made up of Colombian citizens and firms.

Scores of former Colombian military personnel have allegedly journeyed to the conflict in Sudan to operate with the RSF paramilitary group, a faction implicated in severe violations such as massacres based on ethnicity and large-scale abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries initially emerged the previous year, after an report which revealed that more than 300 retired troops had been recruited to participate in the war – an discovery that prompted an unprecedented apology from officials in Bogotá.

These South American veterans have widely regarded as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their extensive battlefield experience gleaned from years of internal conflict, training on Western military gear, and high-level combat training.

Reported Actions

In Sudan, the mercenaries have reportedly trained child soldiers, provided drone warfare training, and participated in direct battles. A mercenary previously stated that training children was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Named Entities

Among those penalized was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a dual Colombian-Italian national and retired Colombian military officer based in the UAE. The Treasury alleged he played a key part in hiring and sending mercenaries to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was penalized as well.

Also on the restricted list was Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated oversaw a company implicated in processing money and salaries for the scheme. "Recently, US-based firms associated with Duque engaged in multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the official announcement stated.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz was the final person to be sanctioned, with the firm she operated said to have conducted wire transfers connected to Duque and his businesses.

"The United States again calls on external actors to stop giving funding and arms to the belligerents," the Treasury announced.

Reaction

A senior analyst, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, labeled the actions as a "major" milestone, stating that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the right way to go".

Furthermore, the Colombian government recently passed a statute approving the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, seeking to reduce decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and change domestic defense strategy.

Another expert, an expert on mercenaries, urged more caution, saying that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for dealing with widespread use of contractors".

"It’s an illicit economy and centered in the UAE, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he stated. The United Arab Emirates has been frequently alleged of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," he advised.