‘The Colombian mercenaries training Sudan’s child fighters to ‘go and get killed’ : Shared by Viviane Sakkal

‘War is a business’: the Colombian mercenaries training Sudan’s child fighters to ‘go and get killed’
Harriet Barber in Medellín and Santiago Rodríguez Álvarez in Bogotá
The Guardian
8 October 2025
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Summary
The Guardian reports that hundreds of former Colombian soldiers have joined Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), both fighting in Darfur and training Sudanese child recruits. One mercenary described teaching “thousands of recruits, mostly children,” to handle weapons before sending them into combat.

Recruited through private military contractors, these men were offered about $2,600 a month and transported through Ethiopia and Somalia before reaching Sudan. The United Arab Emirates, long accused of supporting the RSF, is alleged to have facilitated the contracts — a charge it denies. Colombia’s government has condemned the mercenary trade but struggles to stop it, as poverty and poor veteran support drive ex-soldiers to sell their services abroad. The report situates the mercenaries’ activities amid Sudan’s devastating war, with El Fasher under siege, mass displacement, and UN-verified atrocities including massacres and forced recruitment of children.

Quotes
“War is a business,” said Carlos, one of the hired Colombian fighters.
“We have witnessed with our own eyes a dual crime: the displacement of our people at the hands of the RSF militia, and now the occupation of the camp by foreign mercenaries,” said Mohamed Khamis Douda, a Darfur camp spokesman.
Colombia’s government called the trade in mercenaries “a business of men turned into commodities to kill.”

Army                                   RSF                             Pro-RSF           Other