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Analysis by Human Rights Watch shows how Colombian mercenaries were recruited by an Emirati company and trained on military bases in the UAE before being deployed to Sudan.
Most of the mercenaries were retired Colombian military officers and while in Sudan, they fought alongside the Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces or RSF which has been at war with Sudan's army for over three years.
The UAE has denied supporting the RSF
Human Rights Watch says the UAE has supported other deadly groups across Africa and the Middle East, and analysts say this is being done to secure minerals and to expand the UAE's influence across the region.
Fewer than half of the promised 24 deportees arrived Wednesday.
U.S.-based immigration lawyers say some of the deportations were blocked.
The deportees are expected to eventually be sent to their home countries, but it's unclear if they will be received.
None are from Syria alone, and local officials who received them say many were traumatized
after being chained for months during their detention in the U.S.
At least eight other African countries have signed deals with the Trump administration to receive non-citizen deportees.
Many of these countries have repressive governments and have been accused of holding deportees in poor conditions and without access to legal counsel.
The attacks this weekend were carried out by the Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM group and Tuareg separatist rebels.
The groups launched an offensive that experts say is unprecedented on at least six cities, including the capital, Bamako.
They also attacked a town just north of the capital where the military junta resides, killing Mali's defense minister,
and injuring another senior government official.
The whereabouts of Mali's military leader, Asimi Goita, is unknown.
Former Russian mercenaries now embedded in the Russian defense forces are also fighting alongside Mali's army.