The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on three people and two firms on Friday over their alleged recruitment and deployment of Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group accused of war crimes. The sanctions targeted a Bogota-based employment agency network founded by retired Colombian military officer Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra and his wife. The action marks the latest U.S. measure against the RSF, which has been engaged in armed conflict with Sudan’s military since April 2023.
Sudan’s war has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 34 million people—nearly two-thirds of the country’s population—requiring assistance. The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people over three years, according to conflict-tracking data, though the actual toll is likely much higher given reporting difficulties.
The United States imposed sanctions on three individuals and two firms on Friday over their alleged recruitment of Colombian mercenaries for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, according to the Treasury Department.
Recruitment Network
The sanctioned entities include Bogota-based recruitment agencies Fénix and GQAB, along with retired Colombian military officer Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra and his wife, who founded both firms. Also sanctioned were Fénix manager Quijano Torres, GQAB owner Jose Garcia Batte, and GQAB manager Omar Garcia Batte, all Colombian nationals.
According to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the sanctioned individuals and firms recruited and deployed former Colombian military personnel to fight for the RSF. Hundreds of Colombian soldiers have been deployed since 2024 in combat and technical roles, fighting across the country.
Fénix was established as a replacement for A4SI, another recruitment firm founded by Quijano Becerra and his wife that the U.S. sanctioned in December. The move underscores how the recruitment network has persisted despite prior U.S. sanctions.
Pattern of War Crimes
The RSF stands accused of systematic atrocities. The State Department said in December that RSF members had committed “war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.” The Treasury pointed to a particularly severe attack in October on the Darfur city of el-Fasher, which UN-commissioned experts said bore “the hallmarks of genocide.” At least 6,000 people were killed in the three-day assault, according to the U.N.
The RSF emerged from the feared Janjaweed militias, which faced international accusations of atrocities in the early 2000s against East and Central African populations in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Scale of the Crisis
Sudan’s conflict between the military and RSF began on April 15, 2023, in the capital, Khartoum, and has since spread across the nation. At least 59,000 people have been killed over three years, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, which cautions its toll is “almost certainly an underestimate given difficulties in reporting.”
The war has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Approximately 34 million Sudanese—nearly two-thirds of the country’s population—require assistance, according to the United Nations.