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The Washington has enforced penalties on a group of four people and four firms charged of enlisting Colombian mercenaries to fight for and train a armed faction in Sudan which the US alleges of committing genocide.

Network Composition

Disclosing the restrictions on Tuesday, the US Treasury Department stated the scheme was mostly comprised of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Hundreds of ex-soldiers from Colombia have been recruited to go to Sudan to fight alongside the Sudanese RSF militia, a faction implicated in severe violations such as ethnically targeted slaughter and widespread kidnappings.

Revelation of Role

The participation of ex-soldiers initially emerged last year, after an investigation which revealed that hundreds of ex-military personnel had been contracted to engage in combat – an event that led to an rare mea culpa from the Colombian government.

Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as highly prized fighters in conflict zones due to their considerable warzone knowledge acquired during decades of civil war, familiarity with Nato equipment, and high-level combat training.

Role in the Conflict

In Sudan, the contractors have been accused of teaching child soldiers, taught fighters to pilot drones, and engaged in frontline combat. An individual involved remarked that working with child soldiers was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those targeted was a retired Colombian officer, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and retired Colombian military officer located in the Dubai. The US authorities said he had a central role in recruiting and deploying ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was penalized as well.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who authorities say managed a business accused of processing money and salaries for the recruitment operation. "Recently, companies in the United States connected to Duque engaged in multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the official announcement said.

Individual Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be penalized, with the firm she operated said to have conducted wire transfers linked to Duque and his operations.

"The United States again calls on foreign parties to stop giving financial and military support to the belligerents," the department stated.

Reaction

An expert, with the International Crisis Group, described the sanctions as a "very significant" development, saying that "targeting the enablers is the correct approach".

It was also noted that, Colombia ratified a law endorsing the anti-mercenary convention, seeking to reduce decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and reshape national security policy.

A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, stating that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for dealing with the growing mercenary trade".

"This is a shadow economy and operating from Dubai, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he commented. The UAE has been repeatedly implicated of providing arms to the militia, an accusation it has denied. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," he advised.