UAE accused of training Colombian mercenaries for Sudan’s war
CAIRO (AP) — The United Arab Emirates trained Colombian mercenaries before sending them to fight alongside a notorious paramilitary group. Sudan’s devastating warHuman Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
Its new report is the latest by an international rights group to accuse the wealthy Gulf monarchy of providing financial and military aid to the Rapid Support Forces, which are widely accused of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal atrocities.
The United Arab Emirates denied the latest accusations in response to questions from The Associated Press.
Report adds to ‘growing body of evidence’
“The hiring of Colombian private military contractors adds to growing evidence that the UAE is providing military support to Rapid Support Forces, which have repeatedly committed heinous atrocities in Sudan,” said Mausi Segun, executive director of HRW’s Africa Division.
Sudan’s war broke out on April 15, 2023, as a power struggle between the army and the RSF erupted into clashes in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere in the growing northeast African country.
The RSF emerged from the feared Arab Janjaweed militia in Sudan’s western region of Darfur in the early 2000s, which was notorious for atrocities against people who identified as East or Central African.
In the new report, Human Rights Watch said hundreds of Colombian mercenaries were trained by Emiratis at a military base in the Al Dhafra region, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) west of the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, and at another facility in Abu Dhabi, before being sent to Sudan to fight alongside the RSF.
The rights group cited an unnamed Colombian mercenary as saying he trained RSF soldiers in camps around Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, in April last year.
The mercenary was quoted as saying that most of the recruits were “little kids.” The human rights group said it had interviewed another Colombian mercenary and other sources, including former Colombian military officers.
A panel of United Nations experts said in a report to the U.N. Security Council in September that Colombian mercenaries are fighting in several areas across Sudan, including Khartoum, its sister city Omdurman, and the Darfur and Kordofan regions, among other areas. Experts said that the combat roles of the mercenaries include the operation of RSF unmanned aerial vehicles, artillery and armored vehicles, as well as participation in direct attacks.
RSF commander General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged in video comments in February that Colombian mercenaries were helping his group use drones.
Report calls on countries to pressure UAE to end RSF support
Human Rights Watch said the mercenaries were hired by Global Security Services Group, a private security company based in Abu Dhabi. According to UN experts, the company was headed by Emirati citizen Mohammed Hamdan Al-Zaabi.
Human Rights Watch said Emirati officials and the firm did not respond to requests for comment. However, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the allegations in an email to the AP.
“The UAE does not allow its territory to be used for the recruitment, training, financing or transit of foreign fighters in any conflict, including in Sudan,” the ministry said. he said.
It said that any private individual or entity, Emirati or foreign, providing support to non-state armed groups “will do so without state permission, in violation of Emirati law, and will be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution.”
Human Rights Watch said it had confirmed videos that UN-appointed experts say appear to show Colombian mercenaries fighting alongside the RSF when it captured the Darfur city of al-Fasher in October. distinguishing features of genocide. ” According to the UN, at least 6,000 people were killed in three days
The rights group called on the international community, including the European Union, to pressure the UAE to end its support for the RSF by suspending military cooperation and arms sales.
“Other countries need to stop accepting the UAE’s general denial of support for the RSF, which disregards the facts, and end the UAE’s impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Segun said. he said.
The USA imposed sanctions on many individuals and companies in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, for allegedly recruiting and assigning Colombian mercenaries to fight the RSF. However, he did not address reports of the UAE’s alleged support for the RSF, which it accused of repeatedly carrying out “summary executions, ethnically based attacks, sexual and gender-based violence and torture in areas under its control” during the war.
At least 59,000 people were killed in three years, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, known as ACLED. But the US-based monitoring group said that figure was almost certainly an underestimate, given the difficulty of reporting.
