A Colombian publication reveals that mercenaries from the South American country are fighting alongside Rapid Support Force fighters in the Sudanese civil war, APA learnt on Monday.
According to the news outlet La Silla, Colombian mercenaries drafted to work as security guards in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Emirati company Global Security Service Group saw service in the eastern Libyan city of Behghazi.
The report by La Silla suggests that the UAE authorities later instructed some 40 of the Colombians to cross into western Sudan and fight alongside the RSF who have been waging an armed insurgency against the Sudanese junta led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
They were part of 300-strong army of security personnel employed in the emirates to provide security to buildings, businesses and similar interests.
The report says their involvement in the Sudanese conflict was UAE’s contribution to the RSF’s armed campaign against the Sudanese Armed Forces who have in recent weeks enjoyed more success in the battlefields around the capital Khartoum which continues to be surrounded by government troops.
La Silla Vacía claims that Alvaro Quijano, a retired colonel in the Colombian military had shipped 300 mercenaries from the Latin American country to Sudan via the UAE.
”The mercenaries worked for International Services Agency A4SI (Academy for Security Instruction) owned by Quijano’s wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros” the outlet claims.
Its report explains how the mercenaries using the Libyan desert toward the end of last year found their way to al-Uwaynat along Sudan’s northwestern border to join the ranks of the RSF.
The Colombians were on their way to reinforce RSF numbers as they laid siege to the capital of North Darfur State, el-Fasher.
Soldiers of the SAF who got wind of the infiltration by the Colombian fighters ambushed their caravan with a drone strike, killing 22 of them.
Following the incident, the authorities in Bogota issued groveling apologies to the Sudanese government over the involvement of Colombians in the African country’s conflict.
In recent weeks videos have emerged appearing to show documents, including a passport bearing the name Lombana Moncayo, believed to be that of a mercenary from Colombia.
Moncayo’s location was pinpointed as the southeast of Libya by British open-source investigative website Bellingcat, using the mercenary’s social media account.
Carlos Gonzales, a researcher with the group said it was “determined this footage was filmed from a moving vehicle heading towards the town of Al-Jawf in southwestern Libya, approximately 300-400km from the border with Sudan”.
Colombian mercenaries have been reportedly involved in fighting against the Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2015 ”at the behest of the UAE”.
La Silla Vacía says the mercenaries most of whom retired from the Colombian army and are considered cheap to acquire, were apparently deceived into traveling to the United Arab Emirates to be employed only to find themselves co-opted into a security apparatus.
WN/as/APA