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The United States has enforced penalties on a group of four people and four firms alleged of enlisting former Colombian soldiers to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group that Washington accuses of acts of genocide.

Group Makeup

Revealing the sanctions on this week, the American treasury stated the scheme was mostly comprised of Colombian citizens and firms.

Scores of retired Colombian troops have been recruited to go to the Sudanese warzone to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a force implicated in severe violations encompassing ethnically targeted slaughter and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries was first uncovered last year, after an report which revealed that over three hundred retired troops had been recruited to engage in combat – an discovery that prompted an unusual statement of regret from officials in Bogotá.

Former Colombian military have long been considered as among the world’s most sought-after mercenaries due to their vast combat experience resulting from decades of civil war, training on advanced weaponry, and high-level combat training.

Reported Actions

In Sudan, the contractors have reportedly trained child soldiers, taught fighters to pilot drones, and fought directly on the frontlines. A mercenary previously stated that training children was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "sadly, that is the nature of conflict".

Named Entities

Among those targeted was a retired Colombian officer, a individual with dual citizenship and former army officer operating from the United Arab Emirates. The Treasury accused him a pivotal function in enlisting and transporting ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was similarly targeted.

Also on the penalty list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated managed a business linked to handling funds and payroll for the network. "Over the past two years, American entities connected to Duque conducted numerous wire transfers, amounting to millions," the Treasury statement noted.

Citizen of Colombia Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be sanctioned, with the firm she operated accused of money transfers associated with Duque and his businesses.

"The United States again calls on external actors to stop giving financial and military support to the combatants," the Treasury said in a statement.

Expert Analysis

An expert, from a conflict think tank, described the actions as a "major" development, saying that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the right way to go".

It was also noted that, Colombia has enacted a piece of legislation ratifying the anti-mercenary convention, aiming to curb years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and reshape national security policy.

Sean McFate, a authority on private military contractors, called for greater wariness, stating that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for dealing with rampant mercenarism".

"This is a shadow economy and operating from Dubai, which is relatively sanction-proof," he said. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of arming the RSF, an accusation it has denied. "This trend will probably continue," the expert cautioned.