WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates has secretly dispatched hundreds of Colombian mercenaries to Yemen to fight in that country’s raging conflict, adding a volatile new element in a complex proxy war that has drawn in the United States and Iran.
It is the first combat deployment for a foreign army that the Emirates has quietly built in the desert in the past five years, according to several people currently or formerly involved with the project. The program was once managed by a private company connected to Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, but the people involved in the effort said that his role ended several years ago and that it has since been run by the Emirati military.
Update #1: United Arab Emirates Secretly Sends Colombian Mercenaries to Fight in Yemen -- Haaretz
Update #2: UAE secretly deploys 450 Latin Americans as proxy soldiers to fight Yemen war -- IBTimes
WNU Editor: Apparently these mercenaries have been hired and trained from a program launched by Blackwater’s head Erik Prince .... In Yemen War, Mercenaries Launched By Blackwater Head Were Spotted Today -- Not Good News (Forbes)
Update #3: Sudan is also involved in this conflict, but they have been hired by Saudi Arabia .... Sudan gets $2.2B for joining Saudi Arabia, Qatar in Yemen war -- Al-Monitor
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