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The United States has enforced penalties on a network of four individuals and four companies charged of hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Revealing the sanctions on this week, the Treasury stated the operation was mostly comprised of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Scores of retired Colombian troops have reportedly travelled to the conflict in Sudan to operate with the RSF paramilitary group, a group linked to horrific war crimes encompassing targeted ethnic killings and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries first came to light in 2024, after an report which found that hundreds of ex-military personnel had been contracted to engage in combat – an revelation that prompted an unprecedented apology from officials in Bogotá.

These South American veterans have long been considered as highly prized fighters in conflict zones due to their considerable warzone knowledge gleaned from years of internal conflict, training on Nato equipment, and superior tactical education.

Role in the Conflict

In the conflict, the contractors have reportedly trained underage fighters, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and engaged in frontline combat. An individual involved was quoted as saying that working with child soldiers was "awful and crazy" but added that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those sanctioned was a retired Colombian officer, a individual with dual citizenship and retired Colombian military officer located in the Dubai. The Treasury said he had a central role in recruiting and deploying former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was also sanctioned.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated oversaw a company implicated in managing finances and payments for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, US-based firms associated with Duque engaged in numerous wire transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the government release stated.

Citizen of Colombia Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the fourth individual to be targeted, with the company she managed accused of money transfers connected to Duque and his companies.

"Washington reiterates its demand for external actors to cease providing monetary and weaponry aid to the combatants," the agency said in a statement.

Expert Analysis

Elizabeth Dickinson, from a conflict think tank, labeled the actions as a "major" development, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the correct approach".

Furthermore, Bogotá ratified a statute endorsing the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb its citizens' long history in foreign conflicts and transform domestic defense strategy.

A mercenary specialist, an expert on mercenaries, advised additional measures, stating that "penalties are required yet incomplete for addressing widespread use of contractors".

"It operates in the black market and centered in Dubai, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he said. The United Arab Emirates has been widely accused of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "This trend will probably continue," McFate warned.