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The US government has enforced penalties on a network of four individuals and four companies alleged of recruiting South American contractors to support and educate a Sudanese paramilitary group that Washington accuses of acts of genocide.

Network Composition

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

Numerous of ex-soldiers from Colombia have been recruited to go to the conflict in Sudan to combat beside the Sudanese RSF militia, a group accused of horrific war crimes such as massacres based on ethnicity and mass abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries first came to light the previous year, prompted by an report which revealed that hundreds of ex-military personnel had been recruited to engage in combat – an revelation that prompted an unusual statement of regret from officials in Bogotá.

Colombian ex-soldiers have historically been seen as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their vast combat experience acquired during a long-running domestic war, familiarity with Nato equipment, and elite military instruction.

Reported Actions

In the conflict, the contractors have allegedly instructed underage fighters, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and fought directly on the frontlines. A mercenary previously stated that instructing minors was "horrific and irrational" but added that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Targeted Persons

Among those targeted was a dual national, a dual Colombian-Italian national and former army officer operating from the Dubai. The government alleged he played a pivotal function in enlisting and transporting former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was also sanctioned.

Also on the sanctions list was Duque Botero, a dual national who officials alleged ran a firm implicated in managing finances and payments for the recruitment operation. "Over the past two years, companies in the United States linked to Duque conducted multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the official announcement noted.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw alleged to have wire transfers associated with Duque and his companies.

"The United States again calls on outside forces to cease providing monetary and weaponry aid to the combatants," the department stated.

Analyst Commentary

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

Furthermore, the Colombian government recently passed a statute endorsing the anti-mercenary convention, designed to limit decades of Colombian involvement in international fights and change its security approach.

A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, advised additional measures, saying that "penalties are required yet incomplete for addressing rampant mercenarism".

"This is a shadow economy and centered in Dubai, which is relatively sanction-proof," he stated. The United Arab Emirates has been repeatedly implicated of arming the RSF, claims it rejects. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," he advised.