Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said his government seeks to ban the recruitment of mercenaries.
Petro said so in response to a report of news website La Silla Vacia on the alleged participation of some 300 Colombian mercenaries in a civil war in Sudan.
The report came a week after Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told media that the Russian government had informed that some 500 Colombian mercenaries had been employed by Ukraine’s armed forces.
More than 300 of these Colombian mercenaries would have been killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said Murillo.
What the Russian government told us — and we have to verify this — is that they had information that the number of Colombians involved in the conflict on the Ukrainian side was about 500, of which they state that some have returned to Colombia, about 100 have deserted and another 100 remain in combat. Approximately, there are about three hundred, 310, who have been killed.
Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo
La Silla Vacia’s claim about the participation of Colombians in Sudan’s civil war was supported by a post on social media platform X in which alleged members of a government-loyal militia showed the identity papers of at least two Colombian citizens.
According to the X user, the Colombian mercenaries had been sent to Africa by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has employed Colombian mercenaries through US private security firms since 2011.
All passports are mercenaries from Colombia!! The question is, what do the [United Arab Emirates] want from Sudan to the point they recruit mercenaries from Latin America!!
X account Yasin Ahmed
In his response, the president ordered the Foreign Ministry to “find ways in Africa to return the deceived young people” fighting in Sudan.
Petro additionally called on Congress to improve the lives of veterans and criminalize the recruitment of former members of the military for paramilitary activity abroad.
Soldiers should have a better standard of living in Colombia, but the owners of young blood spilled for money in foreign countries should be criminally punished.
