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The Washington has enforced penalties on a network of four individuals and four companies alleged of recruiting South American contractors to combat alongside and instruct a militia force in Sudan the United States claims of genocidal acts.

Operation Structure

Revealing the measures on Tuesday, the Treasury stated the scheme was mostly comprised of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Scores of retired Colombian troops have reportedly travelled to the Sudanese warzone to operate with the RSF paramilitary group, a group accused of terrible atrocities such as massacres based on ethnicity and large-scale abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The involvement of Colombian fighters first came to light the previous year, prompted by an report which revealed that over three hundred retired troops had been contracted to fight – an revelation that prompted an unusual statement of regret from the Colombian government.

Colombian ex-soldiers have historically been seen as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their considerable warzone knowledge acquired during decades of civil war, knowledge of advanced weaponry, and superior tactical education.

Reported Actions

In the Sudanese theater, the Colombians have allegedly instructed underage fighters, provided drone warfare training, and engaged in frontline combat. An individual involved previously stated that training children was "awful and crazy" but noted that "unfortunately that’s how war is".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those penalized was a retired Colombian officer, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and retired Colombian military officer based in the Dubai. The US authorities accused him a pivotal function in hiring and sending mercenaries to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was similarly targeted.

Also on the sanctions list was Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated oversaw a company implicated in managing finances and payments for the scheme. "Over the past two years, US-based firms linked to Duque carried out numerous wire transfers, worth millions," the government release said.

Individual Mónica Muñoz was the other individual to be penalized, with the firm she operated said to have conducted financial transactions linked to Duque and his operations.

"The US once more urges external actors to halt the flow of funding and arms to the combatants," the agency said in a statement.

Reaction

A senior analyst, with the International Crisis Group, labeled the actions as a "major" step, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the proper strategy".

It was also noted that, Bogotá ratified a statute approving the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, seeking to reduce years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and change national security policy.

A mercenary specialist, an expert on mercenaries, urged more caution, stating that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for combating the growing mercenary trade".

"This is a shadow economy and centered in the UAE, which is difficult to penalize," he stated. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of providing arms to the militia, claims it rejects. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," he advised.