Sudan, citizens under the hell of foreign mercenaries
An investigation published by the website In Depth Reports revealed the existence of foreign fighters of Colombian nationality fighting in the ranks of the Sudanese army. They arrived in Port Sudan through a secret network that recruits retired Colombian soldiers to participate in the war in Sudan, under false promises of jobs in the security sector.
The report explains that the phenomenon of mercenaries—or “military contractors,” accordingto the terminology used—has experienced remarkable growth over the last two decades. It has gone from being an isolated practice to becoming a transnational industry that produces auxiliary armies or small units specialized in combat and security missions. At the center of this boom, Colombia has emerged as one of the main human reservoirs feeding this global market.
Wave of widespread fear
The research, conducted by Fathi Ahmed of Sudan and Juan Álvarez and Camila Torres of Colombia, shows how Spanish-speaking mercenaries sow fear and discontent among the civilian population.
Aisha, a woman in her fifties who fled with her five children after the assault on her neighborhood in the city of Nyala (Darfur), recounted: "When the army forces entered our area, it was not normal. I heard voices in languages I didn't understand, but one word was repeated constantly: Colombia, Colombia. I saw a burly man in military uniform with a yellow, blue, and red patch. Then I realized we were facing foreign fighters.“
Aisha added that the children were ”terrified. We no longer felt that we were surrounded by our own army, but by strangers from far away."
Another witness said: “I was sure that these men were not Arabs or Africans. It was shocking… We were not only fighting against a national army, but against strangers brought in from another continent. That destroys any sense of belonging or justice.”
False job offers
The Colombian mercenaries arrived in Sudan attracted by mysterious advertisements on the streets of Bogotá and Medellín that read: “Security jobs with good salaries in the Middle East – official contracts – salaries in US dollars.”
Carlos Giovanni, a former Colombian army soldier who retired early and managed to flee Sudan to return to his country, said: "A retired officer contacted me and offered me a contract with a private company. He told me that the job was to protect oil facilities in the Middle East, with a salary of up to $3,000 a month. For us, that's a fortune. Many of my colleagues accepted immediately."
However, he later discovered that the destination was not Libya—as they had been led to believe—but Sudan. There, he and his colleagues encountered a completely different reality: training camps, bloody battlefronts, and a war whose causes they did not even know, according to the investigation's findings.