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Libya, UAE fuelled Sudan war with Colombian mercenaries, reports find

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April 22, 2026

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Libya, UAE fuelled Sudan war with Colombian mercenaries, reports find

Newly released reports say Colombian mercenaries helped the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fight the Sudanese army, as the civil war gripping the country is entering its fourth year.

An armed group in Libya helped the transfer of former Colombian military personnel to fight with the RSF, the United Nations Panel of Experts on Libya said in a report on Sunday.

Libya's Subul al-Salam Battalion facilitated the transfer of recruits, including Colombian mercenaries, weapons and fuel across the border to support the RSF, adding to the chaos of the devastating conflict.

The battalion was part of the self-styled Libyan National Army, commanded by powerful Gen. Khalifa Hifter, that runs eastern and southern parts of chaos-stricken Libya.

Its activities centered in the southern town of Kufra, which borders Sudan, Chad and Egypt. It controls crucial facilities, including an airport, which helped transfer arms and fighters to the RSF, the experts said.

The UN report, which covered October 2024 to February 2026, detailed the benefits the RSF obtained through Libya, including a rear base about 75 kilometers southwest of Kufra.

The Sudanese paramilitary group also benefited from an airbase in Kufra and other facilities that were used as transit points for Colombian fighters and as sites for the modification of vehicles imported through Libya, the experts found.

The UN experts said the battalion supported RSF operations in June 2025 through deploying units on the ground, providing fighters and “escorting them across Libyan territory and facilitating access to fuel and spare vehicle parts.”

Its support helped the RSF to advance on the Uwaynat area, a border triangle where Sudan, Egypt and Libya meet, but “weakened border security in southern Libya,” the report said.

Colombian mercenaries in El-Fasher

Meanwhile, a new investigation by security analysis organisation Conflicts Insights Group (CIG) found that a network of Colombian mercenaries backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided "critical military support" to the RSF, enabling them to capture the city of El-Fasher in October 2025.

"This is the first research where we can prove UAE involvement with certainty," CIG director Justin Lynch told the BBC.

"We are making public what governments have long known — that there is a direct link between Abu Dhabi and the RSF," he added.

The CIG used commercially available data to track 50 devices used by Colombian fighters in Sudan between April 2025 and January 2026.

The organisation found evidence of the mercernaries' presence at various staging points across the region, including at a military training facility in Abu Dhabi.

The Colombian fighters reportedly operated as part of the "Desert Wolves" brigade and served as drone pilots, artillerymen, and instructors, including "training child soldiers."

The "Desert Wolves" were associated with a UAE-based company with documented ties to senior Emirati government officials, the report found.

The UAE has long denied repeated accusations by international groups that it provided support to the paramilitary RSF.

CIG identified multiple devices associated with Colombian mercenaries present in El-Fasher during the RSF’s October takeover, details that were confirmed by the United States Treasury Department.

The RSF seized El-Fasher, in North Darfur, after an 18-month siege that cut off food, aid and medical supplies.

In a February report on the city's fall, the UN Human Rights Office said the paramilitaries unleashed “a wave of intense violence [...] shocking in its scale and brutality," committing "widespread atrocities that amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity."

The war in Sudan broke out on April 15, 2023, when a power struggle between the military and RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital of Khartoum and elsewhere in the sprawling country.

The war has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

Additional sources • BBC