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The Washington has levied restrictions on a operation of four people and four firms accused of recruiting South American contractors to combat alongside and instruct a militia force in Sudan the United States claims of genocidal acts.

Network Composition

Announcing the measures on Tuesday, the Treasury stated the network was primarily made up of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Scores of retired Colombian troops have been recruited to go to Sudan to combat beside the Sudanese RSF militia, a group accused of severe violations such as massacres based on ethnicity and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The participation of ex-soldiers first came to light in 2024, after an investigation which found that over three hundred retired troops had been contracted to engage in combat – an event that prompted an unprecedented apology from the Colombian government.

Colombian ex-soldiers have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their extensive battlefield experience resulting from years of internal conflict, training on advanced weaponry, and elite military instruction.

Reported Actions

In the conflict, the Colombians have allegedly instructed child soldiers, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and engaged in frontline combat. One source remarked that training children was "awful and crazy" but added that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those penalized was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a individual with dual citizenship and retired Colombian military officer located in the UAE. The Treasury accused him a pivotal function in enlisting and transporting former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was penalized as well.

Also on the restricted list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated ran a firm accused of managing finances and payments for the scheme. "Over the past two years, US-based firms connected to Duque engaged in several money transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement stated.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw alleged to have money transfers connected to Duque and his companies.

"The United States again calls on outside forces to stop giving monetary and weaponry aid to the warring parties," the Treasury announced.

Analyst Commentary

An expert, with the International Crisis Group, labeled the measures as a "major" milestone, saying that "identifying the recruiters is the proper strategy".

She added that, the Colombian government ratified a statute approving the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, seeking to reduce years of participation by its nationals in international fights and transform its security approach.

Another expert, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, noting that "restrictions are needed but not enough for dealing with widespread use of contractors".

"It’s an illicit economy and based out of the Emirates, which is difficult to penalize," he stated. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of arming the RSF, allegations it disputes. "This trend will probably continue," he advised.