‘Emirati money buys a lot of conscience’: How UAE-linked recruiters sent Colombians into Sudan’s war

A UAE-based security company with extensive links to the Emirati state recruited and deployed Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), including during the paramilitary group’s capture of El-Fasher where mass atrocities were committed, according to a major investigation by the Financial Times.

The investigation provides new details about a sophisticated mercenary pipeline involving Abu Dhabi-based Global Security Services Group (GSSG), military facilities in the UAE and transit hubs across Libya and Somalia. Around 2,000 Colombians are estimated to have travelled to Sudan to support the RSF, with some receiving specialist training in drones and anti-aircraft weapons before deployment.

GSSG was founded in 2016 by Ahmed Mohammed Al-Humairi, secretary-general of the UAE Presidential Court. Its website has listed the Presidential Court and the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior among its clients and previously described GSSG as the UAE government’s “only armed private security services provider”.

The Colombians were recruited through an opaque network of employment agencies, intermediaries and informal military contacts spanning several countries. However, they were not the only foreign fighters. Mercenaries interviewed by the newspaper described working alongside Ukrainians, Russians, Spaniards and Panamanians.

According to The Sentry, “an investigative and policy organization that seeks to disable multinational predatory networks that benefit from violent conflict”, GSSG contracted Colombian recruitment company International Services Agency, also known as A4SI, to supply hundreds of former soldiers. The network was linked to retired Colombian colonel Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, who is based in the UAE.

The US sanctioned Quijano and other members of the recruitment network in December 2025, accusing him of playing a “central role” in recruiting and deploying former Colombian military personnel to Sudan. Britain subsequently sanctioned figures involved in the operation.

The FT investigation reveals how informal and secretive much of the recruitment process was. Former fighters said job offers circulated through WhatsApp messages from friends and former military colleagues, drawing on Colombia’s large pool of veterans experienced in counterinsurgency, urban warfare and specialist weapons.

Some recruits apparently knew little about where they were ultimately being sent.

The mercenaries were then moved through a network of routes linked to key UAE allies. Fighters described travelling through Kufra in eastern Libya and Bosaso in Somalia’s Puntland region before being flown or driven into areas controlled by the RSF in Darfur.

The investigation also uncovered evidence that significant numbers received military training inside the UAE itself.

One Colombian fighter told the FT that around 300 specialists were secretly trained in drone and anti-aircraft operations in the UAE between January and October 2025 before being sent to Sudan. Other mercenaries described receiving training at Ghayathi in Abu Dhabi, a military facility previously identified by a UN panel of experts as a site used to train Sudanese recruits.

One fighter told the newspaper that GSSG personnel and Emiratis wearing military uniforms provided drone instruction, although he could not identify their units.

READ: On the UAE mercenary operations in Africa

Phone-tracking analysis examined by the FT further supported the fighters’ accounts. Spanish-language devices were traced from military facilities in the UAE to transit hubs in Somalia and Libya and ultimately to RSF-controlled areas of Darfur.

Justin Lynch, head of the Conflict Insights Group, which analysed the data, said: “The digital trail connects Abu Dhabi’s training camp to El Fasher’s mass graves.”

The routes described by the fighters also point to a much broader logistics network. Bosaso, where the UAE operates a military base, was described by one Colombian as a hub through which mercenaries were moved towards Sudan and other conflicts across Africa.

Another fighter said Quijano was “trusted deeply by the Emiratis”, who supplied him with resources, transport, equipment and logistics.

The financial attraction was considerable. Fighters told the FT that ordinary operators received around $2,600 per month, supervisors $2,800 and officers $3,500. When bank payments were delayed for two months, mercenaries were reportedly told that cash had been flown in from the UAE to resolve the dispute.

One former fighter summed up the attraction saying: “Emirati money buys a lot of conscience.”

The Colombian contingent developed into one of the largest and most organised foreign forces involved in Sudan’s war. Mercenaries described three battalions operating with the RSF, including specialists in drones, artillery and anti-aircraft weapons.

The third Colombian battalion fought alongside the RSF during the capture of the city in October 2025, according to fighters interviewed by the FT. Mercenaries provided videos showing Colombians firing weapons alongside RSF forces during the fighting.

The fall of El-Fasher followed an 18-month siege that had already subjected civilians to starvation and sustained bombardment. After the RSF captured the city, evidence emerged of mass executions, sexual violence, ethnically targeted killings and other atrocities. The US has determined that the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan.

One mercenary described Colombians detaining people approaching the RSF-controlled airport in Nyala and handing them over to local commanders. He said the detainees were tortured so severely that the Colombians at one point intervened because they could no longer tolerate hearing the victim’s cries.

The investigation paints a picture of an organised transnational mercenary operation stretching from recruitment networks in Colombia to military facilities in the UAE, logistical hubs in Somalia and Libya and ultimately the battlefields of Darfur.

READ: Sudan army claims killing of Ukrainian mercenaries fighting with rebels in Darfur