At least 300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee after armed fighters from Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur last week, survivors and aid agencies say.
The attack, which took place amid ongoing conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese army, has been described by humanitarian organisations as a deliberate assault on civilians already suffering from famine. Eyewitnesses say RSF fighters looted homes, set shelters ablaze, and executed residents at close range during the assault, which began as drones flew overhead and shells landed across the camp.
Among the survivors is Najlaa Ahmed, who became separated from her family in the chaos. “I don’t know what happened to my mother, father, siblings, or grandmother. I came here with strangers,” she said from Tawila, a town some 60 kilometres from Zamzam. She recalled witnessing people die from hunger, thirst, and untreated injuries on the journey.
RSF fighters reportedly accused the camp’s inhabitants of hosting army forces. The paramilitary group has denied targeting civilians and has claimed the camp was being used for military purposes, but videos verified by Reuters suggest otherwise. In one, RSF soldiers interrogate men outside a mosque. In another, armed men appear to celebrate while standing over dead bodies.
Tawila, now sheltering more than 280,000 displaced people, has seen a sharp rise in those seeking safety. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says at least 154 injured people—most with gunshot wounds—have been treated in the past week alone. Basic supplies of food, water, and shelter are running out, and many new arrivals are sleeping under trees or on bare earth.
Satellite imagery and analysis from Yale University show that more than 1.7 square kilometres of the Zamzam camp, including its main market, were destroyed by fire. Witnesses report daily blazes and say armed checkpoints have been set up, restricting movement.
One man in al-Fashir, 15 kilometres north of Zamzam, described discovering 24 bodies at a religious school. Another elderly survivor said 14 people were executed inside a mosque. “People go to mosques to find safety,” he said, “but they entered and shot them.”
The RSF is currently advancing on al-Fashir in a broader push to secure Darfur and possibly establish its own government. The Sudanese army, meanwhile, has begun regaining territory, including parts of the capital, Khartoum.
The RSF has roots in the notorious Janjaweed militias of the early 2000s, whose campaign of violence led to the creation of camps like Zamzam. The current war erupted in April 2023 over plans to merge the RSF and army, plunging Sudan into its worst crisis in decades.
