Hundreds of Colombian ex-soldiers have been recruited as mercenaries to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan [4].
This recruitment pipeline exploits the economic instability of military veterans to fuel a foreign conflict, potentially involving Colombian citizens in human rights abuses abroad.
The recruitment operations are managed by A4SI, an agency linked to the United Arab Emirates with a presence in Colombia [1]. According to a report from Human Rights Watch published in March 2024, these activities intensified between 2022 and 2024 [2]. The agency targets veterans in major Colombian cities, including Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali, before deploying them to the Darfur region of Sudan [2, 4].
Recruiters lure veterans with high financial incentives. Promised monthly salaries range from $8,000 to $12,000 [1, 3], an amount that is often irresistible to those unable to find employment in Colombia [3]. These packages typically include housing, and insurance [3].
Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas Division at Human Rights Watch, said Colombian veterans are vulnerable to recruitment by companies promising salaries in the Emirates, and many end up fighting in a war that does not belong to them [3].
Once deployed, these mercenaries participate in combat against the Sudanese army. The broader conflict in Sudan has already resulted in thousands of deaths and millions of internally displaced persons [1].
An analyst from Conflict Insights Group said the A4SI network acts as a military hiring agency, connecting former Colombian soldiers with RSF commanders in Darfur [1]. The pipeline transforms unemployed veterans into foreign combatants through a structured system of recruitment and training [1, 2].
“Many [veterans] end up fighting in a war that does not belong to them.”
The emergence of the A4SI pipeline highlights a growing trend of 'privatized warfare' where state-linked entities use economic desperation in the Global South to procure skilled combatants for proxy conflicts. By outsourcing the recruitment of Colombian veterans, the UAE-linked agency creates a layer of deniability while providing the RSF with professional military expertise, complicating international efforts to stabilize Sudan and potentially exposing Colombia to legal repercussions regarding the export of mercenaries.
