UAE accused of training Colombian mercenaries for Sudan's war
HRW says hundreds of Colombian contractors were recruited by a UAE-based firm and trained by Emirati nationals before deployment to Sudan.
- On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch accused the United Arab Emirates of training hundreds of Colombian mercenaries at military facilities near Abu Dhabi before deploying them to fight alongside Sudan's Rapid Support Forces.
- Sudan's three-year conflict began in April 2023 when a military power struggle with the RSF erupted in Khartoum; the RSF emerged from Arab Janjaweed militias notorious for early-2000s Darfur atrocities and has faced accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- An unnamed Colombian mercenary told HRW he trained RSF recruits at camps in South Darfur in April last year, while U.N. experts documented that mercenaries operated drones, artillery and armored vehicles across Khartoum, Omdurman, Darfur and Kordofan.
- The UAE's Foreign Ministry denied the allegations to The Associated Press, stating the country does not permit recruitment or training of foreign fighters; Emirati authorities and the Abu Dhabi-based Global Security Services Group declined to respond to HRW's requests for comment.
- HRW called on the European Union to suspend military cooperation with the UAE, while Mausi Segun urged countries to reject the Gulf state's denials; the U.S. has already sanctioned Bogota-based firms over mercenary recruitment, as Sudan's death toll reaches at least 59,000 over three years.
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Atrocities in Sudan backed by Colombian mercenaries trained at UAE bases, says report
Atrocities in Sudan backed by Colombian mercenaries trained at UAE bases, says report Submitted by MEE staff on Tue, 05/26/2026 - 12:51 Hundreds of Colombian contractors transited through Emirati bases in Sudan to support the RSF Sudanese students leave a school operated by the Sudanese Coalition for Education for All, in partnership with Unicef, south of Port Sudan on 26 April 2026 (Khaled Desouki/AFP) Off Columbian mercenaries who helped …
Security company based in Abu Dhabi hired "100 Colombian mercenaries" to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces against the Sudanese Army, according to the organization.
According to HRW, the report provides further evidence of the military assistance provided by the United Arab Emirates to the rapid support forces in Sudan – which Abu Dhabi categorically deniesHuman Rights Watch (HRW) states in a report released on Tuesday that a security company based in Abu Dhabi "seems to have recruited Colombian private military contractors (CMPs) deployed in Sudan to fight alongside the SRFs" between 2024 and 2025.
Colombian mercenaries were hired by a company from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and traveled through UAE military bases before being sent to Sudan to support the violent Rapid Support Forces (RSF) there. Human Rights Watch reports this in a report.
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