U.S. sanctions target Colombia–Sudan mercenary pipeline

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Friday imposed fresh sanctions targeting a network accused of recruiting former Colombian soldiers to fight in Sudan’s civil war. The measures, announced by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), designate five individuals and entities linked to efforts to deploy foreign fighters in support of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023.

“It is unacceptable that the leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have not committed to a humanitarian truce,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, urging both sides to “act to end this humanitarian crisis immediately.”

According to the Treasury, the sanctioned network has been instrumental in recruiting hundreds of former Colombian military personnel since 2024 to fight for the RSF, including in key battlegrounds such as El-Fasher in North Darfur. Officials said the recruitment pipeline relied on a web of companies and intermediaries designed to obscure financial flows and evade accountability.

Among those designated is Fénix Human Resources S.A.S., a Bogotá-based firm described as a successor to an earlier recruitment agency, International Services Agency (A4SI). Authorities allege the company recruited specialized personnel, including drone operators, snipers, and translators, for deployment to Sudan. The Treasury also sanctioned Colombian national Jose Oscar Garcia Batte, a former army colonel accused of recruiting ex-soldiers through his company, Global Qowa Al-Basheria S.A.S. (GQAB), even after learning they would be sent to fight for the RSF.

Two additional individuals - Jose Libardo Quijano Torres, identified as a manager of Fénix, and Omar Fernando Garcia Batte, linked to GQAB - were designated for their leadership roles in the network.

Tommy Pigott, deputy spokesperson for the United States Department of State, said the department “urges a humanitarian truce and an end to external financial and military support,” adding that there is a need to “return to civilian-led, unified governance in Sudan.”

However, some regional observers have criticized the sanctions, arguing that the measures fall significantly short of addressing the broader issue. Critics contend that the actions target only a small group of individuals while overlooking those allegedly responsible for financing and organizing the operations. Cameron Hudosn, a regional analyst, said in a post on X that “It is an act of supreme diplomatic cowardice to sanction a group of five Colombians for recruiting mercenaries to fight in Sudan, when the world knows that those contracts were signed and paid for by the UAE.”

The war has now entered its third year, with Sudan widely categorized as experiencing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Despite repeated international calls, the warring factions have failed to reach a truce and remain reluctant to end the devastating conflict.

A report by a United Nations fact-finding mission concluded that atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces in and around El-Fasher, particularly during October 2025, show strong indicators of a genocidal campaign. Following an 18-month siege, the RSF allegedly imposed life-threatening conditions - including starvation, destruction of infrastructure, and denial of humanitarian aid - targeting primarily non-Arab communities such as the Zaghawa and Fur.

The mission documented coordinated and repeated patterns of violence, including mass killings, sexual violence, torture, and enforced disappearances, accompanied by dehumanizing rhetoric suggesting intent to destroy these groups in whole or in part. The siege and subsequent takeover of El-Fasher were marked by extreme brutality and systematic targeting of civilians. The UN report concluded that these actions constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and potentially genocide, based on evidence of intent inferred from patterns of conduct, the scale of atrocities, and statements by perpetrators. Similar findings have been echoed across multiple independent reports.

It is also important to note the broader international dynamics surrounding the conflict, particularly the alleged role of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE has been implicated in multiple reports suggesting involvement, although it has consistently denied any direct role in the war.

Despite these denials, a growing body of evidence points to a more complex picture. Several reports indicate that the UAE has used regional countries as transit points for weapons and as hubs for recruiting or deploying mercenaries. Locations such as Bosaso Airport have been reported, while more recent reports have highlighted alleged activities in Assosa, Western Ethiopia, where a training facility is said to be operating for fighters linked to the RSF.

A report by The Sentry in late 2025 detailed how Colombian mercenaries were recruited to fight alongside the RSF. These fighters, reportedly involved in training child soldiers, were linked to a UAE-based company, Global Security Services Group (GSSG). The investigation found that GSSG is owned by Emirati businessman Mohamed Hamdan Alzaabi, who has close business ties with Ahmed Mohamed Al Humairi, a senior UAE government official. The relationship raises concerns about potential high-level connections between the UAE and the RSF. The report also outlined how GSSG partnered with Colombian recruitment agency A4SI, situating these operations within a broader pattern of UAE reliance on foreign fighters and private security firms in overseas conflicts, including past deployments in Yemen and Libya.

Separately, individual Colombian mercenaries who spoke with the Guardian described being deployed via complex international routes before arriving in Sudan. According to these accounts, they initially trained recruits, many of them children, before being sent to active frontlines. The Guardian report indicated that the role of these mercenaries has expanded beyond direct combat to include training child soldiers and participating in operations linked to major atrocities, including attacks on displacement camps.

The latest U.S. sanctions follow earlier measures targeting Colombian mercenaries, associated entities, and the warring factions themselves. However, these actions have yet to produce a meaningful breakthrough in efforts to end the conflict. Both sides remain unwilling to agree to a ceasefire, even as the humanitarian toll continues to escalate at an alarming scale.