Late one night in April 2025, a Colombian private military contractor was leaving the United Arab Emirates under unusual circumstances.
“They brought us in hidden, clandestinely, through the back of the airport,” he told me. “It was very hidden.”
He was departing Abu Dhabi after having received military training from Emirati nationals at a UAE military base.
That evening, his flight made a quick stopover in eastern Chad before its final destination: Nyala, the capital of south Darfur and de facto capital at the time of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – an armed group that has repeatedly carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity in the conflict with Sudan’s military for control of the country.
The contractor was one of hundreds of former fighters from Colombia who, according to a new Human Rights Watch report, were apparently hired by the Global Security Services Group (GSSG) to fight alongside the RSF.
