The Sentry, a U.S. nonprofit that tracks corruption and conflict finance, examined the ownership and business links behind Global Security Services Group (GSSG), a security firm deploying foreign fighters.

Its report, published on November 5, 2025, centers on Ahmed Mohamed Al Humairi, secretary general of the UAE Presidential Court, and Emirati businessman Mohamed Hamdan Al Zaabi.

Top Court Aide’s Former Company

The Sentry reports that Al Humairi founded and once fully owned GSSG, the UAE-based company now accused of providing Colombian fighters to the RSF.

Although he later divested, investigators say he remains closely linked to current CEO Al Zaabi through overlapping business interests, calling the connection “further evidence of the high-level linkages between the UAE and the RSF, which have been accused of committing genocide in Sudan.”

The report describes Al Humairi as the UAE’s top bureaucrat, in a role “equivalent to the White House chief of staff,” amplifying concerns that mercenary deployments may be backed by senior state figures.

Sentry investigator Nick Donovan warned that the relationship “could be an indicator of support for the militia at the highest levels of the UAE government,” and publicly asked who is ultimately paying Al Zaabi’s firm.

GSSG, Bosaso Hub And RSF Frontlines

According to the investigation, GSSG has employed more than 300 Colombian soldiers in Darfur, drawing on a pool of veterans from Colombia’s long internal conflicts.

These recruits, some organized by former army officer Col. Álvaro Quijano, have been trained in drone warfare in Abu Dhabi and rotated through a UAE-controlled base at Bosaso in Somalia’s Puntland region before deployment to Sudan.

Videos from El Fasher, verified by Sudan War Monitor and other outlets, show Colombian fighters engaged in frontline combat as well as medical and support roles.

The Sentry notes that Colombian mercenaries have also trained “thousands of RSF fighters,” including child soldiers, embedding them deeply in the RSF’s campaign in North Darfur.

Colombian Veterans And Political Backlash

Former Colombian soldiers are attractive to firms like GSSG because of their advanced training and lower wage expectations compared with Western contractors.

Decades of warfare against the FARC and other guerrillas left Colombia with a large cohort of experienced veterans, many now recruited into private military roles.

Yet the mission in Sudan is not sanctioned by Bogotá. President Gustavo Petro has publicly condemned “mercenarismo” and apologized to Sudan’s authorities, while La Silla Vacía’s reporting on Colombians training RSF child soldiers has generated domestic outrage.

Ideology, Gold Flows And Mercenary Manpower

The Sentry situates these deployments within a broader pattern of UAE reliance on foreign fighters, comparing the model to a “French Foreign Legion” embedded in Emirati security structures.

Abu Dhabi has previously employed foreign mercenaries, including Colombians, in Yemen and Libya, and sees the RSF as a long-term reservoir of manpower for regional operations.

The report also underscores commercial ties: the RSF is said to export large quantities of Sudanese gold illegally to Dubai, bypassing controls and duties, while UAE officials view Sudan’s regular army as too close to Islamist currents that ruled from 1989 to 2019.

The Sentry urges the United States, European Union and United Kingdom to investigate GSSG, Al Zaabi and associated Colombian entities, and to impose sanctions if they are still supplying mercenaries to the RSF in what Sudan War Monitor calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.