HRW Accuses UAE of Routing Colombian Mercenaries to Sudan's RSF as 150,000 Die in War
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · May 26
HRW Accuses UAE of Routing Colombian Mercenaries to Sudan's RSF as 150,000 Die in War
17 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 26
Human Rights Watch said an Abu Dhabi-based company recruited former Colombian soldiers and moved them through UAE military bases to fight for Sudan's RSF, citing interviews, social-media analysis and recovered munitions.
The group said the men were trained at Ghiyathi and Al Wathba before covert deployment to Darfur as infantry, artillerymen, drone pilots and instructors, with some witnesses reporting Colombians in el-Fasher during October 2025 mass killings.
The UAE denied allowing its territory to be used to recruit, train, finance or transit foreign fighters, saying any private support for a non-state armed group would be unauthorized and subject to prosecution.
The allegations add to evidence of foreign backing for the RSF, which has been accused of war crimes in a conflict that began in April 2023 and has killed more than 150,000 people while displacing over 12.9 million.
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1,000 Days of War in Sudan: UAE Involvement, Mercenary Deployments, and the Collapse of Civilian Life
Overview
Since the civil war erupted in Sudan in 2023, the country has faced a severe humanitarian crisis, with civilians suffering from widespread violence, displacement, and starvation. The conflict has seen a resurgence of ethnic targeting in Darfur, echoing the atrocities of the 2003–2005 genocide. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militias are central to the current violence, carrying out systematic attacks against communities previously targeted by the Janjaweed. This ongoing crisis highlights the deepening instability in Sudan and the repeated patterns of ethnically motivated violence that continue to devastate the nation.