WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. imposed sanctions on four people and four firms for their alleged involvement in a transnational network that recruits former Colombian military members who train soldiers to fight for the Sudanese paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

The Rapid Support Forces, which has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023 has been accused of war crimes by Amnesty International and the UN’s Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said this month that he fears “ a new wave of atrocities ” in Sudan amid a surge in fierce fighting in the Kordofan region in central Sudan.

Included in the Tuesday sanctions are Alvaro Andres Quijano Becerra, a retired Colombian military officer and his wife, an employment agency manager named Mateo Andres Duque Botero

See Full Page