A video of some rocky outcrops within the Libyan desert geolocated by Bellingcat could maintain clues concerning the journey of a lacking Colombian who’s amongst a number of reportedly recruited and despatched to Sudan’s civil battle, the place his destiny stays unknown.
In line with reviews by Colombian media and the Wall Road Journal, greater than 100 Colombian ex-soldiers have been recruited to struggle with the Speedy Help Forces (RSF) in Sudan. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has requested the Overseas Ministry to search for choices to return these concerned within the scheme to Colombia.
Colombian outlet La Silla Vacia spoke to a number of ex-soldiers who have been reportedly recruited by a Colombian safety firm with hyperlinks to the UAE, plenty of whom stated they’d been misled about their final vacation spot and transported to Sudan by way of Libya.
In movies circulating on November 21, the passport and different identification paperwork of Christian Lombana Moncayo have been exhibited by Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) within the aftermath of an alleged ambush in opposition to an RSF convoy someplace within the desert alongside the border between Libya, Chad and Sudan. To this point, now we have not been in a position to geolocate this footage.
It’s unclear if Lombana Moncayo was killed, wounded or detained within the alleged ambush. Additionally it is not clear how the SAF received maintain of his documentation.
We reviewed his social media posts and located extra particulars about his journey, together with his last TikTok publish, which we geolocated to Libya.
Sudan is within the midst of an ongoing civil battle, which broke out after a peaceable rebellion by civilians in opposition to dictator Omar al-Bashir. Following his ousting, two rival factions – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo referred to as Common Hemedti and reportedly backed by the UAE amongst others– have been fiercely preventing over management of enormous swathes of the nation.
Libya is among the international locations recognized as a supply of mercenaries transferring into Sudan.
From Colombia to the United Arab Emirates
On November 21, movies circulated on social media allegedly exhibiting SAF accountable for pallets of ammunition after an ambush on an RSF convoy at an unknown desert location.
Troopers on the scene have been filmed sifting via private paperwork which included household letters, a passport and ID playing cards of Colombian nationals.
However how did Lombana Moncayo’s paperwork find yourself there?
Bellingcat analysed and cross-referenced the ambush footage with social media posts made by Lombana Moncayo on TikTok.
We have been in a position to match the Christian Lombana Moncayo seen within the ID paperwork with the social media handles by evaluating key biographical particulars together with his identify, date of delivery and hometown alongside together with his journey itinerary with particulars on the TikTok account.
Cross-referencing the collection of stamps on Lombana Moncayo’s passport, his TikTok movies with particulars of his travels and FlightRadar knowledge; it seems that he arrived in Abu Dhabi from Bogotá after a cease in Paris in early October, 2024.
Additionally, primarily based on these stamps, it appears he stayed in Abu Dhabi solely a short while earlier than departing from the UAE on October 11, 2024.
Throughout his time within the UAE, Lombana Moncayo seems to have stayed on the lodge La Quinta by Wyndham Abu Dhabi Al Wahda within the Emirates’ capital.
The Journey Continues
On November 17, simply 4 days earlier than the alleged SAF ambush movies began to flow into on-line, Lombana Moncayo posted his final TikTok video on the analysed account.
The footage was filmed from inside a transferring car passing by a collection of hills, one very near the highway and the others within the background. The low solar place seems to point the video was filmed both within the early morning or late afternoon.
Primarily based on the testimonies given to La Silla Vacia, we labored on the idea that Lombana Moncayo left the UAE to Benghazi, Libya after which was transported by highway to Sudan.
There is just one highway connecting Benghazi with the southwestern city of Al-Jawf, which is nearer to the border with Sudan, as indicated in pink beneath.
Utilizing this highway and Google Earth, we began our hunt for areas that includes terrain options just like those seen in Lombana Moncayo’s video till we discovered an space of curiosity simply north of Al-Jawf.
We shortlisted these areas the place the hills have been near the highway as seen within the video.
Additional assessment of satellite tv for pc imagery allowed us to discover a match within the sand sample on the slope of certainly one of the hills alongside this sector of the highway, roughly right here: 25.099960, 22.955852 about 110km north of Al-Jawf and roughly 300-400km from the border with Sudan.
Additional inspection of the hills within the background utilizing PeakVisor helped us to confirm the placement. The photo voltaic path simulation utilizing the identical software seems to counsel the video was filmed at round 18:00 in October-November, which is in line with Lombana Moncayo leaving the UAE on October 11 and posting the video on November 17.
Bellingcat decided this footage was filmed from a transferring car heading in the direction of the city of Al-Jawf in southwestern Libya, roughly 300-400km from the border with Sudan.
If the video was certainly filmed by Lombana Moncayo, our findings tally with testimonies reported by La Silla Vacia of the transit of Colombians via Libya into Sudan.
The timing of the video, posted on November 17, would line up with the looks of his passport and different paperwork on November 21, exhibited by the SAF within the aftermath of the alleged ambush within the desert alongside the border between Libya, Chad and Sudan.
We wish to thank Reade Levinson for her contributions to this analysis.
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