Former child soldiers in Sudan say Colombian mercenaries training the RSF forced them into combat in Khartoum. Their testimonies deepen concerns over child recruitment, foreign fighters and war crimes in the conflict.
Two former child soldiers in Sudan have alleged that Colombian mercenaries training fighters of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forced them and other boys to take part in combat in Khartoum, with one saying he was shackled to an anti-aircraft gun during air strikes and another saying he was beaten when he refused to fire artillery. Their accounts, given to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, offer a rare first-hand glimpse into the risks faced by children drawn into Sudan’s war, now in its fourth year.
Six former child soldiers who said they had been abducted and made to fight with the RSF spoke to AP. Two of them said Colombians trained them. Their accounts also point to a wider deployment of Colombian mercenaries with the RSF, amid allegations by rights groups and Sudan’s military that the United Arab Emirates has backed the force. The UAE has denied providing arms or military support to any side in Sudan and said it had no links to mercenaries.
The 17-year-old boy who said he had been chained to the anti-aircraft gun broke down as he spoke about the roughly 18 months he was forced to fight. “I was extremely scared. I just wanted to escape and go home,” he said.
He said RSF fighters seized him by mistake at a market in Omdurman, where he had been selling cigarettes, while they were looking for deserters. He was 15 then. He said he had never held a gun before being pushed to the front lines in Khartoum. He still bears scars on his head and under his eye, which he said were caused by shrapnel.
Later, he said, he was taken to an RSF base in Omdurman known as Central Reserve Camp, where he was held with dozens of other children. Their hands were tied all the time, even while eating. “We weren’t allowed to bathe. Instead, they would pour water over us while we were still bound,” he said.
According to him, dozens of foreign mercenaries were at the base and RSF fighters identified them as Colombians. Speaking through translators, they taught the children how to use anti-aircraft guns and told RSF fighters to tie the boys to the weapons so they could not run away, he said. “When the planes flew overhead, the Colombians would retreat to their bunkers, leaving us outside shackled to the vehicles,” he said. He said he was forced to fire but was too frightened and never hit anything.
A second boy said he was 15 when he was held at an RSF camp called al-Konan, where Colombians trained him and other boys to use heavy artillery and drones. He said he was kept locked up and brought out only for artillery strikes. The Colombians and the RSF used drones to choose targets and, at times, he said, he could see civilians through the camera. When he refused to fire, he said, they beat him, sometimes with an electric baton. In one instance, he said, a Colombian beat him until he lost consciousness.
The second boy also said an 18-year-old friend who tried to escape was shot dead by the RSF, and that he carried the body away. “I still have nightmares whenever I try to sleep,” he said. Both boys spoke at a facility on the outskirts of Khartoum run by the military-backed government, where more than 200 former child soldiers were being rehabilitated. Many had come into the hands of the military after it retook the capital from the RSF over the past year. AP said a member of the military media office accompanied the visit but did not choose the interviewees, and that AP retained full editorial control.
AP said it could not independently verify the boys’ accounts, though it said they were consistent with other reporting on the conflict. It also reported that several countries have become entangled in Sudan’s war and that other foreigners, including Russians and Ukrainians, have taken part in fighting. According to the UN, around 10,000 Colombians have joined conflicts abroad, including in Somalia, Ukraine and Sudan, and veteran groups say recruitment has continued despite a recent law barring Colombians from fighting in foreign wars.
Human Rights Watch and Conflict Insights Group have documented the presence of Colombian mercenaries alongside the RSF in Darfur, including during the October capture of El Fasher. In separate reports this year, the two groups said the Colombians were hired by an Emirati contractor and trained at Emirati military bases. After this story was published, the UAE said it did not provide arms or military support to any warring party in Sudan, did not facilitate the movement of mercenaries or foreign fighters into Sudan, and had no links to mercenaries. It also said its investigation into the firm in question found no links to mercenary activity in Sudan, condemned atrocities on all sides, and said it supported efforts to end the conflict.
A Colombian mercenary who said he fought in Darfur for six months in 2025 told AP that hundreds of Colombians were on the front lines with the RSF at the time and were involved in training recruits. He said he saw children as young as 13 fighting with the RSF. In Khartoum, Ali Qader, who heads the rehabilitation centre, said several children had told him Colombians trained them at camps around the capital. A former RSF fighter who defected to the government side said he saw Colombians training children in Khartoum in July 2024, while a Sudanese military officer with knowledge of the situation said Colombians were training children in and around the city when the RSF controlled it. The Colombian government said it had no official information confirming allegations that Colombians recruited or trained child soldiers in Sudan, and condemned such abuses.
Abdelgadir Abdullah Abu, secretary-general of Sudan’s National Council for Child Welfare, said tens of thousands of children as young as eight had been recruited during the war. The UN has said all sides in the conflict, including militias allied with the government, have used child soldiers, and that many are still believed to be on the front lines. The RSF and the Sudanese government did not respond to detailed requests for comment. The RSF traces its roots to the Janjaweed militias active in Darfur in the early 2000s. Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s former president, was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide over that campaign. Rights groups say the RSF is using similar tactics now. “The evidence suggests the UAE could be substantially contributing to the RSF’s widespread crimes against humanity,” said Jean-Baptiste Gallopin of Human Rights Watch.
At the rehabilitation centre, boys in white uniforms showed AP their injuries. One was missing a hand, another had scars on his back that he said were from torture, and a third had a bone protruding from his side. The boy who said he had been held at Central Reserve Camp said that when he once refused to fire at a jet while tied to the anti-aircraft gun, RSF fighters shot at him as punishment and wounded his foot. He said the wound filled with worms before the fighters eventually abandoned him, after which he was taken to the centre.
He said he desperately wanted to return home, but his mother had died of illness during the war and his father told him he was ashamed of what his son had done and did not want to see him. Zeinab Mahjoub, a psychologist at the facility, said she tries to persuade families not to abandon the boys as they struggle with trauma. Sheldon Yett, head of UNICEF in Sudan, said the agency was working with the government and other parties to speed up the boys’ release and to persuade authorities to treat “children as children”. AP said that since its visit to the centre in April, the children had been released.
The boy who said he had been held at al-Konan Camp said he escaped one night after nearly two years when a guard left a door unlocked. He tried to go back to his family, but someone in the area knew he had fought with the RSF and informed the authorities, who sent him to the centre. “We have made mistakes,” he said. “We want to get out of here to rebuild Sudan.” The boys’ accounts, along with wider reporting on Sudan’s war, underline how children have been pulled into the conflict by multiple sides and are now trying to recover from what they were forced to do.
With PTI Inputs
