US sanctions network accused of recruiting Colombians to fight for Sudan’s RSF
The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on four individuals and four entities for their alleged roles in fueling the civil war in Sudan.
In a statement, OFAC said the four are part of a transnational network, primarily composed of Colombian nationals and companies, that recruits former Colombian military personnel and trains soldiers, including children, to fight for the Sudanese paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
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"Since September 2024, hundreds of former Colombian military personnel have travelled to Sudan to fight alongside the RSF. These Colombians provide the RSF with tactical and technical expertise, serving as infantry and artillerymen, drone pilots, vehicle operators, and instructors, with some even training children to fight in the RSF," OFAC revealed.
"The Colombian fighters have participated in numerous battles across Sudan, including in its capital, Khartoum, as well as Omdurman, Kordofan, and El Fasher. The presence of Colombian fighters in Sudan would not be possible without the assistance of numerous individuals and companies, mostly from Colombia," it added.
The eight include: Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra (Quijano), a dual Colombian-Italian national, retired Colombian military officer and former associate of the Colombia-based Norte del Valle Cartel who is currently based in the United Arab Emirates.
According to the US, the man plays a central role in recruiting and deploying former Colombian military personnel to Sudan with the support of a network of associates and companies that specialise in recruiting fighters and facilitating the movement of funds related to their deployment.
"In Colombia, Bogota-based International Services Agency (A4SI), an employment agency that Quijano co-founded, is the main recruiting node, having engaged in campaigns via its website, group chats, and townhalls to fill positions, including drone operators, snipers, and translators. Quijano's wife, Colombian national Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero (Oliveros), is A4SI's owner and manager," the statement explains.
It adds that A4SI relies on Panama-based Global Staffing S.A. (Global Staffing), now Talent Bridge, S.A., to minimise A4SI's legal exposure and obfuscate the links between A4SI and the company hiring the Colombian fighters.
"Specifically, Global Staffing signs contracts and receives funds on A4SI's behalf. However, Global Staffing's links to A4SI run deeper. Not only is Global Staffing's website identical to that of A4SI, but Oliveros, A4SI's owner and manager, was until recently Global Staffing's president and treasurer, and is still affiliated with it as a company subscriber," OFAC said.
Also sanctioned is Maine Global Corp S.A.S. (Maine Global Corp), a Colombia-based employment agency managed by dual Colombian-Spanish national Mateo Andres Duque Botero (Duque), who serves as the shareholder, president, director or manager of firms in Colombia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
According to the US, Maine Global Corp manages and disburses funds for Global Staffing and the company that hired the Colombians, with the support of US-based firms associated with Duque.
"This includes processing payroll payments for the Colombian fighters and serving as a foreign exchange intermediary, converting euros and Colombian pesos to US dollars. In 2024 and 2025, US-based firms associated with Duque engaged in numerous wire transfers, totalling millions of US dollars, with Maine Global Corp, Global Staffing, and the company hiring the Colombian fighters," read the statement.
Monica Muñoz Ucros, also a Colombian national and Maine Global Corp's alternate manager and the manager of Bogota, Colombia-based Comercializadora San Bendito (San Bendito), which engaged in wire transfers with a US company associated with Duque, has been sanctioned.
"Quijano and A4SI are each being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14098, 'Imposing Sanctions on Certain Persons Destabilising Sudan and Undermining the Goal of a Democratic Transition,' for being a foreign person who is responsible for, or complicit in, or who has directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, or stability of Sudan," OFAC adds.
Oliveros is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14098 for being a foreign person who is or has been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of A4SI, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14098 relating to the tenure of such leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors.
Global Staffing, as an entity, is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14098 for being a foreign person who is owned or controlled by, or has acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, A4SI, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14098.
Maine Global Corp is also being designated pursuant to E.O. 14098 for is a foreign person who has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Global Staffing, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14098.
Duque and Munoz are each being designated pursuant to E.O. 14098 for being a foreign person who is or has been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of Maine Global Corp, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14098 relating to the tenure of such leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors.
San Bendito is being designated for being a foreign person who is owned or controlled by, or has acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Munoz, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14098.
Following the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 per cent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked unless authorised by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all transactions by US persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked persons.
US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said the Treasury is targeting a network that recruits fighters for the RSF.
"The RSF has shown again and again that it is willing to target civilians, including infants and young children. Its brutality has deepened the conflict and destabilised the region, creating the conditions for terrorist groups to grow," he said.
OFAC's investigation of the individuals and entities was carried out in partnership with the United States Customs and Border Protection, National Targeting Centre.
The conflict in Sudan has seen the RSF and its allied militias repeatedly target civilians, systematically killing men and boys, even infants, and deliberately assaulting women and girls through rape and other forms of sexual violence, and preventing them from accessing lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
"Despite recent attempts to downplay its misdeeds, the RSF continues to perpetrate these atrocities, most recently in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. Supported by Colombian fighters, the RSF captured El Fasher on October 26, 2025, after an 18-month siege, and subsequently engaged in mass killings of civilians, ethnically targeted torture, and sexual violence. On January 7, 2025, the Department of State announced its determination that members of the RSF committed genocide," the US said.
The US believes the civil war in Sudan risks destabilising the region and making the country a haven for those who threaten the country, and has therefore called on external actors to cease providing financial and military support to the belligerents.
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