A confidential report by United Nations sanctions investigators says Colombian fighters played a significant role in the Rapid Support Forces’ capture of el-Fasher and were trained and moved through a network involving the United Arab Emirates. The UAE denies wrongdoing.
The UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, which monitors the Security Council’s arms embargo on Darfur, has told the Council that Colombian mercenaries fought alongside Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and were trained at sites in the United Arab Emirates, according to a leaked copy of the panel’s latest quarterly update reported by Middle East Eye on November 6. The New York Times reported on it on November 5.
Middle East Eye says the report is marked strictly confidential and was submitted to the Security Council the week before. RSN has not seen the document. The quotations below are as published by Middle East Eye.
What the report says
According to the quoted text, the Colombians “played a significant role in RSF military operations in Darfur, particularly in the siege and capture of el-Fasher.” The RSF took el-Fasher, the last major army-held city in Darfur, in October 2025 after a siege of more than a year.
The report says the mercenaries “provided combat and technical support, including drone operation, artillery and infantry support,” and that “they were trained and deployed through a network of facilities and transit routes involving the UAE, Somalia, eastern Libya and Chad.”
Middle East Eye reports that UN investigators identified three training sites in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Ghayathi and al-Wathba) and a base in Bosaso, in Somalia’s Puntland region. The report says the “UAE-linked Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) base in Bosaso, Somalia, has been used as a site of transit and/or training for Colombian mercenaries prior to their deployment to Sudan,” and that “the UAE military financed, trained, and supervised the PMPF.”
Middle East Eye names the company involved as Global Security Services Group (GSSG), a UAE-based firm that it says moved the Colombians into Sudan through Libya, Somalia and Chad. Citing the Times, it says GSSG was founded by a senior official in the Emirati presidency.
Not the first time
The same panel made similar findings in an earlier draft. Reuters reported on July 29, 2026, that a draft panel report found GSSG hired the Colombian fighters, known as the “Desert Wolves,” and that UN estimates of 1,500 to 2,000 men were credible. Reuters said the draft found the Colombians set up a base in Nyala, in South Darfur, in March 2025, operated drones and took part in planning for the siege and capture of el-Fasher.
The same Reuters report said the panel found that Boeing 727 aircraft, which Reuters had linked to a U.S. military contractor’s business network, carried mercenaries, weapons and drones for the RSF, with night landings in Nyala between January and July 2026. Craig Munro of Contractor Airways, which bought two of the aircraft, told Reuters the reported Nyala and Kufrah landings were, “to the best of our knowledge, false.”
That earlier report has not been published. Middle East Eye and the Ethiopian outlet Addis Standard report that Bahrain has blocked its release for months. Addis Standard says Bahrain objected at the UAE’s request, which Abu Dhabi rejects. RSN could not confirm the reason for the hold.
Colombian recruitment for Sudan has been reported since late 2024, and Reuters notes that Colombia’s government has previously apologized to Sudan.
The UAE’s answer
In a letter included in the leaked report, according to Middle East Eye, the UAE said it “rejects any allegations of wrongdoing in relation to the Sudan conflict” and “takes allegations about mercenaries very seriously.” The Emirati foreign ministry did not respond to Middle East Eye’s request for comment.
In July, a UAE mission spokesperson told Reuters that GSSG “is not involved in any mercenary activity in Sudan” and “does not have links to individuals reported to be mercenaries in Sudan.” Addis Standard, summarizing the Times, reports that an Emirati spokesperson said the UAE did not support any party to the conflict and that GSSG’s involvement was humanitarian. RSN could not read the Times article directly. GSSG and the RSF did not respond to Reuters in July.
Why it matters now
The timing is awkward for Abu Dhabi. Its ambassador to the UN, Lana Nusseibeh, is a candidate for UN secretary-general. She told Politico she would “support the work of UN fact-finding mechanisms” and that RSF atrocities “must be subject to accountability,” according to Middle East Eye, which notes that she did not directly address Emirati support for the RSF. Sudan’s ambassador in London, Babiker al-Siddig al-Amin, said: “Those who have the blood of the Sudanese people on their hands should not be leading international institutions.”
The UAE is also a close U.S. security partner and a major buyer of American weapons. If the UN panel’s findings hold up, Washington has a direct interest in where Emirati-backed fighters and equipment end up.
What is established and what is not
Reported from documents: The panel’s findings and quotations come from a confidential report that RSN has not seen. They reach the public through Middle East Eye and the New York Times. Reuters separately reported similar findings from a July draft.
Disputed: The UAE denies wrongdoing and says GSSG is not involved in mercenary activity in Sudan. The UN panel’s conclusions are findings by investigators, not rulings by a court or a vote of the Security Council.
Not established: The exact number of Colombians in Sudan now. Reuters reported the draft found 1,500 to 2,000 credible; other accounts cite “hundreds.” Also unknown: who paid the fighters, and whether the latest report will be made public.
RSN analysis: Two separate panel documents, months apart, reach the same conclusion about Emirati involvement. That makes the finding harder to dismiss as a one-off error. But until the report is published and the evidence behind it can be examined, readers should treat the UAE link as a serious, documented allegation rather than a proven fact.
Sources
- Middle East Eye, Oscar Rickett, “Leaked UN report ‘establishes conclusively’ that UAE hired Colombian mercenaries for Sudan’s RSF”, November 6, 2026
- Reuters (via Internazionale), David Lewis, Reade Levinson and Alexander Dziadosz, “Boeings identified in Reuters report carried weapons for Sudanese paramilitary, UN experts find”, July 29, 2026
- Addis Standard via allAfrica, “UN Report Says UAE Firm Hired Colombian Mercenaries to Fight in Sudan, Raising Questions Over Abu Dhabi’s UN Chief Bid”, November 6, 2026
- El Espectador, “‘Lobos del Desierto’: mercenarios colombianos que Emiratos habría enviado a Sudán”, November 5, 2026
- The New York Times, report on the UN panel and the UAE’s secretary-general candidate, November 5, 2026 (paywalled; not read directly by RSN)
Featured image: Newly displaced people from el-Fasher at the Tawila displacement site, North Darfur, October 2025. Photo: Mohamed Elgoni/UN OCHA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
How this article was made: Right Side News researched and drafted this article with the help of AI tools. Sources are linked so readers can check them. Spot an error? Tell us in the comments and we will correct it.
