LONDON (Dispatches) -- United Nations investigators have concluded that the United Arab Emirates hired Colombian military contractors to fight alongside Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), including in the capture of the city of el-Fasher, Middle East Eye reported on Saturday, citing a confidential UN report.
The fourth quarterly update by the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan, obtained by MEE, says the Colombian fighters were recruited and deployed through a network involving the UAE, Somalia, eastern Libya and Chad.
According to the report, the UAE-based Global Security Services Group (GSSG) helped transport the contractors through several countries before their deployment in Sudan. Investigators also identified the UAE-linked Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) base in Bosaso, Somalia, as a transit and possible training site.
The report says the mercenaries received training at facilities in Abu Dhabi, Ghayathi and al-Wathba in the UAE, as well as at the Bosaso base. It adds that the fighters provided combat and technical assistance, including operating drones and supporting artillery and infantry units.
The contractors played a significant role in RSF operations in Darfur, particularly during the siege and capture of el-Fasher, the report said.
The RSF seized el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, in October 2025 after a siege lasting more than 500 days. Human rights organizations have documented widespread killings, sexual violence and other abuses during the group’s offensive.
The latest allegations come as senior Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh campaigns to become the next UN secretary-general. The UAE formally nominated her for the position on October 21. She previously served as the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2013 to 2024.
Sudan’s ambassador to Britain, Babiker al-Siddig al-Amin, told MEE that Nusseibeh’s candidacy should not be used to deflect scrutiny from the UAE’s role in the atrocities in Darfur.
The UN report’s allegations against the UAE stand in stark contrast to Nusseibeh’s public pledge to hold the RSF accountable for atrocities and support UN investigations into abuses in Sudan.
The conflict between Sudan’s army and the RSF erupted in April 2023 and has displaced millions of people, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
The allegations have intensified scrutiny of the UAE’s expanding regional ambitions, with its involvement in conflicts far beyond its borders raising questions about Abu Dhabi’s pursuit of outsized geopolitical influence through military intervention, proxy forces and strategic footholds across the region.