The Washington has imposed sanctions on a network of four people and four firms alleged of hiring Colombian mercenaries to support and educate a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of acts of genocide.
Disclosing the restrictions on Tuesday, the US Treasury Department stated the scheme was mostly comprised of Colombian citizens and firms.
Hundreds of ex-soldiers from Colombia have been recruited to go to the Sudanese warzone to combat beside the Sudanese RSF militia, a group accused of terrible atrocities such as targeted ethnic killings and mass abductions.
The involvement of Colombian fighters initially emerged last year, following an report which disclosed that over three hundred ex-military personnel had been hired to fight – an revelation that resulted in an unprecedented apology from Colombia’s foreign ministry.
Former Colombian military have historically been seen as highly prized fighters in conflict zones due to their considerable warzone knowledge acquired during 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, provided drone warfare training, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary was quoted as saying that instructing minors was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".
Among those targeted was a dual national, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and former army officer based in the UAE. The government said he had a pivotal function in recruiting and deploying mercenaries to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was similarly targeted.
Also on the penalty list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who officials alleged oversaw a company implicated in handling funds and payroll for the network. "Over the past two years, US-based firms connected to Duque conducted multiple financial transactions, totalling millions of US dollars," the Treasury statement stated.
Individual Mónica Muñoz was the final person to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted wire transfers connected to Duque and his operations.
"The US once more urges foreign parties to halt the flow of financial and military support to the belligerents," the department announced.
An expert, with the International Crisis Group, described the measures as a "very significant" step, noting that "targeting the enablers is the correct approach".
It was also noted that, Bogotá recently passed a law approving the anti-mercenary convention, aiming to curb decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and change its security approach.
Another expert, a scholar on the subject, urged more caution, saying that "restrictions are needed but not enough for addressing widespread use of contractors".
"It’s an illicit economy and operating from the UAE, which is difficult to penalize," he commented. The UAE has been widely accused of providing arms to the militia, claims it rejects. "This trend will probably continue," he advised.
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