A company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has hired and transported hundreds of Colombian private military contractors to Sudan to fight for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released May 25.

The recruitment of Colombian private military contractors further demonstrates the UAE's role in providing support to the RSF, which has been repeatedly accused of atrocities in Sudan, said Mausi Segun, executive director of the Africa Division at HRW. Since 2024, Abu Dhabi-based security company Global Security Services Group (GSSP) has hired hundreds of Colombian private contractors to send to Sudan. HRW found that the recruits all passed through a UAE military base in Ghiyathi and an apparent private military facility in Al Wathba, both in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The report also raised concerns over the use of children in the armed conflict. An interviewed Colombian contractor trained RSF recruits at its main base in South Darfur. The contractor reported that a number of the recruits were underage. The Geneva Convention prohibits the recruitment and use of children under 15 in active armed conflict. The UN Secretary-General's office has verified 16 cases involving child recruitment by the RSF, and included the armed group in the UN "list of shame" for grave violations against children in conflict.

According to HRW, the GSSP and UAE authorities have not responded to its allegations. However, the UAE has long denied any military support to the conflicting parties in Sudan.

The rights group called on the international community, including the EU, to press the UAE to end its support for the RSF by suspending military cooperation and arms sales. Segun added: "Other countries need to stop accepting the UAE's blanket denials of support to the RSF, which fly in the face of the facts, and should put an end to its impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Sudan's foreign ministry has also accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, and attempted to bring the UAE before the International Court of Justice for its alleged complicity in acts of genocide carried out by the RSF in Darfur. However, the court refused to hear the case for lack of jurisdiction, noting that the UAE reserved the jurisdictional clause when it signed the Genocide Convention.

The Sudanese army and the RSF have engaged in a civil war for the last three years. The Sudan war has caused one of the greatest humanitarian crises on Earth. Some 34 million people in Sudan require urgent humanitarian assistance, the UN recently warned.

From JURIST, May 27. Used with permission.