Hundreds feared killed in Sudan as RSF launches attack on famine-stricken camp

A devastating assault by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Zamzam Camp for displaced people near al-Fasher has left hundreds dead or wounded, the foreign ministry and aid groups say, in what some described as one of the worst violations since the war began.

The first wave of multiple attacks began on Thursday, according to a release from advocacy group the General Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees, with the assaults continuing through Friday and Saturday, destroying homes, markets, and healthcare facilities.

That left “hundreds dead and wounded, the majority of whom were also women and children,” the organization said. It condemned the attack as “a war crime and crime against humanity.”

Similar assaults on Abu Shouk Camp earlier in the week killed 35 civilians, it added. “The humanitarian situation in al-Fasher is collapsing,” its statement read, pointing to famine, a lack of medicine, and total insecurity.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Clementine Nkweta-Salami says in a statement that at least 100 civilians were killed in Abu Shouk and Zamzam camps, which host over 700,000 displaced people, many of whom are now trapped without safe refuge.

The RSF dismissed allegations of atrocities in Zamzam Camp as fabricated, claiming a recently circulated video depicting civilian suffering was staged by the Sudanese army.

In a statement, it accuses its rivals of orchestrating a media campaign using actors and staged scenes within the camp to falsely incriminate them.

It denies responsibility for any attacks on civilians, reiterated its commitment to international humanitarian law, and criticized what it described as a propaganda effort aimed at tarnishing its reputation and distracting from the real crimes committed against the Sudanese people.