Sudan accuses UAE of hiring Colombian mercenaries in UN complaint
Sudan’s complaint claims 350 to 380 Colombian mercenaries were recruited by Emirati security firms to fight alongside the RSF.
The Sudanese government has lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council, alleging that the United Arab Emirates has recruited, financed and deployed hundreds of Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
What happened: A six-page letter dated Sept. 5 from Sudan’s UN representative, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith, to Security Council president Kim Sangjin of South Korea has been circulating on social media and was reported on by Sudan's state news agency, SUNA, though the latter did not publish the letter. The Sudan Tribune has also reported on the letter, citing excerpts that align with the version circulating on social media. The letter is reportedly accompanied by 13 annexes containing evidence to support Sudan’s claims.
#Sudan informs the UNSC about "alarming and well-documented evidence concerning the direct intervention of the #UAE in the ongoing war in Sudan including the recruiting, financing and deployment of foreign mercenaries - particularly from #Colombia - to fight alongside the RSF. " pic.twitter.com/RCdjcsFWO2
— Patrick Heinisch (@PatrickHeinisc1) September 6, 2025
The complaint asserts that Sudanese authorities have “alarming and well-documented" evidence showing that between 350 and 380 Colombian mercenaries, most of them retired soldiers and officers from the Colombian army, were recruited through Emirati-based private security firms.
The letter requests that the Security Council take “appropriate measures to investigate and condemn the illicit flow of foreign transboundary mercenaries.”
