UN Report: UAE‑Linked Firm Recruited Colombian Mercenaries for Sudan’s RSF
A confidential UN investigation says a security company tied to the United Arab Emirates recruited Colombian fighters, trained them in Abu Dhabi and sent them to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces through Libya and Somalia.
A confidential United Nations report has outlined a new foreign link in Sudan’s war, alleging that a security company connected to the United Arab Emirates recruited and deployed Colombian mercenaries to support the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to the report, the Colombian fighters were trained in Abu Dhabi before being moved to Sudan. They reportedly travelled through Libya and Somalia on their way to join RSF units, a route that shows how several fragile states have become waypoints for private armies.
Once in Sudan, the Colombians provided drone, artillery and training support to the RSF, the UN document says. The RSF has been accused of genocide and other grave abuses during the current conflict, so any enhancement of its capabilities has direct consequences for civilians caught near front lines, urban strongholds and key infrastructure.
The use of Colombian veterans reflects a broader pattern. Former soldiers from the country’s long internal war have been hired by private security companies in the Gulf and beyond, valued for combat experience and willing to accept pay that undercuts many Western contractors. In Sudan, the UN report suggests that their skills were plugged directly into RSF operations.
The findings add pressure on the UAE’s ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, and on Abu Dhabi’s wider claims to be a stabilizing broker in regional conflicts. On one hand, the UAE has taken part in diplomatic efforts and humanitarian funding for Sudan. On the other, the report describes a UAE‑linked company feeding trained foreign fighters and specialist support to one of the main belligerents.
The alleged deployment also illustrates how modern proxy warfare works. Instead of just supplying money or weapons, states and their associated firms can assemble complete packages: recruiting personnel in Latin America, training them in Gulf states, routing them through third‑country hubs and embedding them with a client force in Africa.
For Libya and Somalia, the role as transit corridors risks deepening their own instability. Airports and coastal zones become staging grounds for mercenary flows whose end use lies in other people’s wars, and local actors can be tempted to profit from that traffic.
What comes next will depend in part on how UN member states react to the report’s findings. Options on the table include sanctions on the company involved, tighter oversight of private military recruitment in Colombia, and diplomatic pressure on the UAE to clarify its role. Any visible reduction in RSF access to foreign fighters or specialist support would be one signal that the scrutiny is starting to bite.
Sources
- OSINT