Sudan Conflict Displaces Over 1,400 in North Kordofan After RSF Attack
Reporting based primarily on apnews.com.
The Sudan conflict has produced fresh displacement in North Kordofan while also drawing accounts from children forced into combat roles. Over 1,400 people were displaced in Sudan’s North Kordofan after an RSF attack that killed nine civilians, while six former child soldiers have given accounts of being forcibly recruited by the RSF, shackled to weapons, and trained by Colombian mercenaries during the war now in its fourth year. [2]
Displacement from RSF Attack in North Kordofan
IOM reports that families fled the Al-Jamama area in North Kordofan following an RSF attack that killed nine civilians, resulting in more than 1,400 displacements. [1] The UN migration agency stated that the displacements occurred after deteriorating security in the wake of the attack. [1] Families left the area as conditions worsened following the reported civilian deaths. [1]
Child Soldiers’ Accounts of Forced Combat
Six former child soldiers abducted by the RSF described being shackled day and night to anti-aircraft guns and artillery, beaten for disobedience, and forced to fire on aircraft while Colombian mercenaries took cover in bunkers. [2] The teenage boy’s hands and legs were shackled to the anti-aircraft gun mounted on a pickup as Sudanese warplanes attacked. [2] He saw another child chained to the steering wheel. [2] As their captors sought cover, the terrified children were ordered to stay and shoot down the jets over the capital, Khartoum. [2] If they tried to flee, they would be killed by their captors. [2] The boy, now 17, told The Associated Press that those who ordered him strapped to the gun were Colombian mercenaries providing military aid to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces against the army. [2] Another child said he was forced to carry out artillery strikes and beaten for disobedience. [2] The rare, firsthand accounts show the perils faced by tens of thousands of children believed to have been conscripted into the war by all sides. [2] Six former child soldiers who were abducted and forced to fight with the Rapid Support Forces spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. [2] Two said they were trained by Colombians. [2]
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Role of Colombian Mercenaries in Training
Two of the boys said they were trained by Colombians on anti-aircraft guns, heavy artillery, and drones at RSF bases in Omdurman and Khartoum, with one witnessing a friend shot dead for trying to flee. [2] The children were shackled day and night. [2] He said he was rounded up by RSF fighters in a market in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, where he was selling cigarettes. [2] The paramilitaries were searching for deserters and seized him by mistake, he said. [2] He was 15 at the time. [2] Never having held a gun, he was thrust onto the front lines in Khartoum. [2] Scars on his head and under his eye mark where he says he was hit by shrapnel. [2] He was later taken to an RSF base in Omdurman known as Central Reserve Camp, where he was held with dozens of other children. [2] Their hands were bound all the time, even while eating. [2] “We weren’t allowed to bathe. Instead, they would pour water over us while we were still bound,” he said. [2] He said dozens of foreign mercenaries were at the base, described as Colombians by the RSF fighters there. [2] Speaking through translators, they taught the children how to use anti-aircraft guns. [2] They told RSF fighters to bind the children to the weapons so they couldn’t escape, he said. [2] “When the planes flew overhead, the Colombians would retreat to their bunkers, leaving us outside shackled to the vehicles,” the teenager said. [2] He was forced to fire, but he said he was too afraid and never hit anything. [2] The second boy described how, at age 15, he was held at an RSF camp called al-Konan, where he said Colombians trained him and other boys on heavy artillery and drones. [2] He said he was locked up and only brought out for artillery strikes. [2] The Colombians and the RSF used drones to choose targets, and sometimes he saw civilians through the camera. [2] When he refused to fire, they would beat him, sometimes with an electric baton. [2] In one case, he said, a Colombian beat him unconscious. [2] An 18-year-old friend tried to flee and was shot dead by the RSF. [2] He carried the body away. [2] “I still have nightmares whenever I try to sleep,” he said. [2]
International Entanglements and Denials
Colombian mercenaries were recruited via a UAE-linked firm according to rights groups, with the UAE denying involvement and claiming shipments were humanitarian aid; a Colombian fighter confirmed seeing children as young as 13 with the RSF. [2] Their accounts point to a wider deployment of Colombian mercenaries, who rights groups say were recruited by a state-linked firm in the United Arab Emirates to fight with the RSF. [2] Human rights groups and Sudan’s military accuse the UAE of arming the RSF, and a U.N. panel said it had tracked weapons shipments to the RSF originating in the Gulf federation that includes Dubai. [2] The UAE did not respond to multiple requests for comment. [2] It has previously denied arming the RSF, saying the shipments in question were of humanitarian aid for refugees. [2] The boy who had been shackled to the gun burst into tears as he ran his hand over scars from the some 18 months he was forced to fight. [2] “I was extremely scared. I just wanted to escape and go home,” he said. [2] The AP could not independently verify the boys’ accounts, which are consistent with other reporting on the conflict. [2] Multiple countries are entangled in Sudan’s conflict, and other foreigners, including Russians and Ukrainians, have taken part in hostilities. [2] Some 10,000 Colombians have hired themselves out for foreign wars, including in Somalia, Ukraine and Sudan, according to the U.N. [2] Colombia’s decades of internal conflict, involving guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers, have produced a large cadre of veterans prized for their U.S.-backed military training and driven abroad by meager pensions and scarce civilian job prospects. [2] A recent law bars Colombians from fighting in foreign conflicts, but veteran groups say recruitment has continued. [2] Human Rights Watch and Conflict Insights Group, a private research firm, have documented the presence of Colombian mercenaries alongside the RSF in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, including during the October capture of El Fasher, where RSF fighters have been accused of mass killings. [2] In separate reports this year, Human Rights Watch and Conflict Insights Group said the Colombians were hired by an Emirati contractor and trained in Emirati military bases. [2] The UAE denied those allegations at the time, telling the BBC it had no involvement in recruiting or training foreign fighters and that it would investigate and prosecute any entity suspected of doing so. [2] A Colombian mercenary who fought in Darfur for six months in 2025 told the AP that hundreds of Colombians were on the front lines with the RSF at the time and involved in training recruits. [2] He said he saw children as young as 13 fighting with the RSF. [2] He spoke on condition of anonymity, concerned over legal consequences. [2] The Colombian government said it has no official information confirming allegations that Colombians recruited or trained child soldiers in Sudan. [2] It condemned such abuses. [2]
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Rehabilitation Efforts and Scale of Child Recruitment
Tens of thousands of children are believed conscripted by all sides in the conflict; the accounts come from boys now at a military-backed rehabilitation center holding over 200 former child soldiers. [2] Both children spoke at a facility run by the military-backed government on Khartoum’s outskirts, where more than 200 former child soldiers were being rehabilitated. [2] Many fell into the hands of the military when it retook the capital from the RSF over the past year. [2] A member of the military media office accompanied the AP during the visit. [2] The official did not choose who the AP interviewed. [2] The AP retains full editorial control of its content. [2] Veterans of Colombia’s long wars have hired themselves out. [2] Ali Qader, the head of the rehabilitation center, said several children told him Colombians trained them at camps around the capital. [2] A former RSF fighter, who defected to the government side and spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said he saw Colombians training children in Khartoum in July 2024. [2] A Sudanese military officer with knowledge of the situation said Colombians were training children in and around Khartoum when the RSF held the city. [2] The officer was not authorized to brief reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity. [2] Child recruitment is a war crime. [2]
Broader Scale of Conscription in the Sudan Conflict
Tens of thousands of children are believed conscripted by all sides in the conflict. [2] The accounts come from boys now at a military-backed rehabilitation center holding over 200 former child soldiers. [2] The rare, firsthand accounts show the perils faced by tens of thousands of children believed to have been conscripted into the war by all sides. [2]
What to watch next: Further reports may emerge from the rehabilitation center where more than 200 former child soldiers are held, as additional children continue to describe training by foreign fighters in the Sudan conflict.
