Mobile phone tracking has uncovered a network of Colombian mercenaries providing critical support to Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during the capture of el-Fasher, according to a new report by the Conflict Insights Group (CIG).
The investigation, reported by the BBC, utilized commercially available advertising technology to track more than 50 mobile devices in Sudan between April 2025 and January this year. The data suggests these fighters are linked to a supply chain involving the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
CIG director Justin Lynch stated that the research provides the first certain proof of Emirati involvement. "We are making public what governments have long known - that there is a direct link between Abu Dhabi and the RSF," Lynch said.
Digital breadcrumbs in Darfur
The report details how devices operated by Colombian fighters moved from South America to a UAE military training facility in Ghayathi, Abu Dhabi. One tracked phone traveled from Colombia to Zayad International Airport before reaching the training site, where researchers found four other Spanish-language devices.
These devices subsequently moved into Sudan's South Darfur state. In the RSF-held city of Nyala, the CIG logged connections to Wi-Fi networks named "ANTIAEREO" and "AirDefense," both referencing anti-aircraft operations in Spanish.
Further tracking connected a Colombian device to the fall of el-Fasher last October. The device connected to a network named "ATACADOR," meaning attacker, during the RSF's takeover of the city.
The UAE has repeatedly denied providing support to the RSF, calling allegations of its involvement "false and unfounded."
Colombian President Gustavo Petro previously characterized the recruitment of these mercenaries as a "form of human trafficking" and described the fighters as "spectres of death."
The conflict in Sudan has triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with the fall of el-Fasher marked by mass atrocities that UN investigators have described as bearing the "hallmarks of genocide."
