Six former child soldiers who were abducted and forced to fight with Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces provided firsthand accounts to The Associated Press detailing their experiences in the ongoing conflict. The teenagers described being conscripted into active combat roles, including operating anti-aircraft guns and heavy artillery, often while physically restrained to prevent escape. Two of the children stated they received training from Colombian mercenaries deployed alongside RSF forces.
According to the former child soldiers’ accounts, Colombian military contractors were present at RSF training camps around Khartoum and other locations. The children described harsh conditions including being held with bound hands, denied basic hygiene, and subjected to beatings when they refused to participate in operations. One teenager recalled being shackled to an anti-aircraft gun during airstrikes and witnessing fellow children chained to vehicles as their captors retreated to safety. Another described forced participation in artillery strikes coordinated through drone surveillance and being beaten with an electric baton when disobedient.
Human rights organizations and researchers have documented the presence of Colombian mercenaries with RSF forces in Sudan’s Darfur region and now reportedly in Khartoum. The contractors are believed to have been recruited through a state-linked firm based in the United Arab Emirates. Multiple sources indicated hundreds of Colombian military veterans have been deployed to Sudan, drawn from a larger pool of approximately 10,000 Colombians involved in foreign military engagements globally.
The UAE denied providing military support to any warring party in Sudan, facilitating mercenary deployment, or maintaining links to mercenary groups operating there. Colombian government officials stated they had no official information confirming the recruitment or training of child soldiers by Colombian nationals in Sudan but condemned such abuses. Both the RSF and Sudanese government did not respond to detailed requests for comment.
The children interviewed were being rehabilitated at a facility run by the military-backed government where more than 200 former child soldiers received care. According to Sudanese officials, tens of thousands of children as young as 8 have been recruited throughout the conflict by all sides. The U.N. confirmed that multiple warring parties, including militias aligned with the government, have employed child soldiers during the war now in its fourth year.
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