{"id":55466,"date":"2025-10-09T01:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=55466"},"modified":"2025-10-09T01:21:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T22:21:19","slug":"war-is-a-business-colombian-mercenaries-train-sudans-children-to-fight-and-go-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/09\/war-is-a-business-colombian-mercenaries-train-sudans-children-to-fight-and-go-to-die\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWar Is a Business\u201d: Colombian Mercenaries Train Sudan\u2019s Children to Fight \u2014 and \u201cGo to Die\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2014 Agencies<\/strong><\/p>\n

A mercenary reveals lucrative contracts, the siege of El Fasher, and the training of children to fight to the death<\/p>\n

Harriet Barber in Medell\u00edn and Santiago Rodr\u00edguez \u00c1lvarez in Bogot\u00e1 \u2014 Wednesday, 8 October 2025<\/p>\n

For the Colombian mercenaries, hardened by contracts in jungle wars, the conflict in Sudan at first felt slow.
\n\u201cWe sleep at night in Sudan \u2014 there isn\u2019t even security or guards, because everyone goes to sleep. Colombians are different \u2014 we\u2019re used to a different kind of war,\u201d says \u201cCarlos,\u201d one of hundreds of Colombians hired to fight in the African country.<\/p>\n

When Carlos and his companions reached the front, they advanced through the dark, penetrating deep into enemy territory. \u201cThen the fighting escalated \u2014 and the number of dead started to rise,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Carlos arrived in Sudan earlier this year, about two years after the brutal civil war broke out between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war has pushed Sudan into one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in modern history, United Nations officials say: some 150,000 dead, abductions and rapes of women and girls, and nearly 13 million displaced \u2014 making it the world\u2019s largest displacement crisis.<\/p>\n

Around 260,000 civilians remain besieged in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the last major stronghold of the army in the region, where the siege has lasted more than 500 days. No aid has entered the stricken city for about 18 months, and children have been forced to eat locusts and animal fodder.<\/p>\n

There, Colombians were sent to fight on the side of the RSF. \u201cWar is a business,\u201d Carlos said.<\/p>\n

Revelations about mercenary involvement began last year when Colombian newspaper La Silla Vac\u00eda published an investigation showing that more than 300 former soldiers had been contracted, prompting an unprecedented apology from the Colombian foreign ministry.<\/p>\n

But Colombians\u2019 role went beyond the battlefield: fighters admitted to training recruited Sudanese children, and were filmed inside Zamzam camp, Sudan\u2019s largest displacement camp. In April, RSF forces stormed the camp and killed between 300 and 1,500 people \u2014 an atrocity the United Nations described as among the worst of the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe witnessed a double crime with our own eyes: the displacement of our people at the hands of the RSF militia, and now the occupation of the camp by foreign mercenaries,\u201d Mohammed Khamis Doda, a camp spokesman, told the Sudan Tribune.<\/p>\n

The UAE\u2019s role and the mercenaries<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United Arab Emirates has long been accused of financing and arming the RSF, and is now also accused of facilitating the recruitment of mercenaries through private security firms. Abu Dhabi has consistently denied these allegations.<\/p>\n

Unlike some Colombians who said they believed they were being sent to guard oil facilities in the UAE, Carlos knew he was going to war \u2014 he only didn\u2019t know it would be in Africa.<\/p>\n

His journey began with medical checks in Bogot\u00e1, where he signed a contract worth $2,600 a month. He was then flown through Europe to Ethiopia, to a UAE military base in Bosaso, Somalia, and later sent to Nyala in Sudan, which has become known as a hub for Colombian mercenaries.<\/p>\n

Carlos, who requested that his full name not be used, said his first assignment was to train Sudanese recruits, most of them children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were thousands of recruits in the camps, some adults, but most were children \u2014 far too many children. These kids had never held a weapon. We taught them how to use rifles, machine guns and RPGs. Then they were sent to the front. We trained them to go and die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He described it as \u201chorrible and insane,\u201d but added: \u201cUnfortunately, this is war.\u201d<\/p>\n

El Fasher: the heart of the battle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carlos was later sent to El Fasher, the country\u2019s worst battleground. The RSF has built a 20-mile wall around the city, executing anyone who attempts to flee.<\/p>\n

Video clips and photos shared by Carlos and his colleagues with La Silla Vac\u00eda and The Guardian showed Colombian mercenaries training Sudanese youths \u2014 many of them teenagers \u2014 and fighting in devastated neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

In one clip, the mercenaries are heard speaking with heavy Colombian accents amid heavy gunfire as they try to pull a wounded man to safety.<\/p>\n

Colombia: a source of mercenaries<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colombia\u2019s long-running armed conflict has created a surplus of trained fighters, many of whom received U.S. training, turning the country into a major source of mercenaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cColombia has more than half a century of active war history. Its soldiers are well trained and have fought hard battles, so they\u2019re ready to fight,\u201d says Elizabeth Dickinson, senior Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n

Sean McFate, an expert on mercenaries, says the use of Colombians rose over the past decade, first to guard oil facilities in the UAE and then in the Yemen war, where Abu Dhabi sent \u201cmany Colombian mercenaries to kill Houthis.\u201d Since then, they have appeared regularly in several conflicts.<\/p>\n

In July 2021, 18 Colombians were among the team that assassinated Haiti\u2019s president, Jovenel Mo\u00efse. Others have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The trade in death<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colombian President Gustavo Petro described mercenarism as \u201ca trade in men turned into commodities for killing,\u201d and vowed to outlaw the practice. But low pension income and difficulties reintegrating fighters, together with financial temptations, make an end to the trade unlikely soon.<\/p>\n

Analysts warn that private security companies are expanding recruitment to include active-duty soldiers, using offers via apps like WhatsApp with large salaries.<\/p>\n

Carlos himself left the army after only five years of service and worked as a mercenary in Ukraine before moving to Sudan. Although he recently left Sudan over pay issues, flights are still bringing more fighters.<\/p>\n

\u201cMercenaries nearly disappeared in the 20th century, but this trade is growing fast again. It\u2019s the oldest profession in the world. We are returning to a medieval-like era where the wealthy can act like great powers,\u201d McFate says.<\/p>\n

Carlos sums it up: \u201cIt\u2019s not honorable, nor legal. But you go for the money.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sudan Events \u2014 Agencies A mercenary reveals lucrative contracts, the siege of El Fasher, and the training of children to fight to the death Harriet Barber in Medell\u00edn and Santiago Rodr\u00edguez \u00c1lvarez in Bogot\u00e1 \u2014 Wednesday, 8 October 2025 For the Colombian mercenaries, hardened by contracts in jungle wars, the conflict in Sudan at first …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55467,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55466\/revisions\/55467"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}