HRW: UAE Boosted RSF War Crime Capacity via Colombian Mercenaries
May 26, Beirut — Human Rights Watch published Tuesday additional evidence that the United Arab Emirates has enhanced the Rapid Support Forces’ capacity to commit war crimes, revealing that Colombian mercenaries transited through Abu Dhabi military bases before being deployed to Sudan.
The US, UK, and UN have sanctioned Colombian officers for recruiting mercenaries who served as infantry, artillery, and drone pilots for the RSF, and for training children in guerrilla warfare techniques on the force’s behalf.
While the first public evidence of Colombians fighting alongside the RSF emerged in November 2024, HRW said it is publishing for the first time evidence that these mercenaries passed through UAE military facilities prior to reaching Sudan.
In a report titled “From Bogotá to El Fasher: The UAE’s Role in Sending Colombian Fighters and Providing Other Support to the RSF,” HRW said Colombian private military contractors employed by a UAE-based company transited through at least two military installations in Abu Dhabi — the Ghayathi base and another in Al Wathba — before deployment to Sudan. One mercenary told the organization he received training from Emirati nationals at one of the two bases.
The contractors were recruited through A4SI, a Colombia-based recruitment agency working with the Global Security Services Group, an Abu Dhabi-headquartered security firm with ties to the UAE ruling family and senior officials, HRW said.
One contractor told HRW he departed Abu Dhabi from a small private airport outside the city. Another said he bypassed immigration procedures upon arrival by private flight, was transported directly to Ghayathi base, and that his passport was never stamped. “We came in and out, and there was a bus waiting to take us to a military base,” he said.
HRW said the contractors traveled from the UAE to Sudan through a complex network of ostensibly private companies and transit points, using an air bridge spanning several countries including eastern Libya, Bosaso in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, and the Chadian capital N’Djamena, before reaching Darfur.
Atrocities in El Fasher
HRW said it has evidence placing private military contractors in El Fasher, North Darfur, in October 2025, when RSF forces seized the city and carried out widespread killings and rape. Six witnesses told the organization they saw fair-skinned foreign fighters at mass killing sites, wearing full protective gear including helmets, body armor, and knee pads.
The Sudanese army had defended El Fasher since the RSF’s first assault in May 2024, withstanding a ground siege followed by an aerial blockade using jamming equipment and air defense systems, before the city fell on October 26, 2025.
On October 1, 2025, the army said it had killed a number of Colombian and Ukrainian foreigners, including drone engineers, during an attempted infiltration of residential neighborhoods to access high-rise buildings.
The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission concluded on February 19, 2026 that RSF forces committed genocide upon capturing El Fasher. The UN human rights office documented more than 6,000 people killed in the first three days of the assault, 4,400 afterward, and 1,600 killed while fleeing the city. The International Criminal Court and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said their preliminary assessments indicated crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed in El Fasher.
International Silence
HRW criticized the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, African Union, and United Nations for failing to explicitly name or condemn UAE support for the RSF, despite possessing evidence of that support.
A former employee of the Global Security Services Group told HRW that senior members of the UAE ruling family were likely among the company’s clients — a claim supported by a set of leaked emails reviewed by the organization.
HRW Africa director Mausi Segun said the recruitment of Colombian contractors adds to a growing body of evidence that the UAE is providing military backing to the RSF, which has repeatedly committed grave atrocities in Sudan.
She called on governments to publicly demand that the UAE halt its supply of weapons, equipment, personnel, and other forms of military support to the RSF, warning that civilians are paying the price for the international community’s failure to act.