Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed 25 civilians during an attack on a displacement camp in famine-hit Darfur on Friday, according to local aid workers, as fighting intensifies over El-Fasher, the last state capital in the region under army control.
The local resistance committee in El-Fasher reported that RSF shelling and gunfire struck the Zamzam displacement camp from both southern and eastern directions. The volunteer group, which has been providing aid throughout the war, confirmed the deadly assault in North Darfur state’s besieged capital.
Zamzam, along with other camps near El-Fasher that house thousands of displaced civilians, has been repeatedly targeted during nearly two years of violent conflict between Sudan’s regular army and the RSF.
Eyewitnesses said RSF vehicles entered Zamzam under heavy fire, adding to fears of a full-scale offensive on El-Fasher, a strategic stronghold the army is determined to defend. Control of the city would give the RSF dominance over all five Darfur state capitals.
The attack followed a similar incident on Thursday, when shelling by the RSF on Abu Shouk camp killed at least 15 people, according to rescuers.
Three El-Fasher residents, speaking anonymously for their safety, told AFP that RSF fighters launched a multi-pronged attack on the city on Friday, targeting it from the east, south and west after bombarding it with rockets and artillery. Witnesses also reported drone strikes in the city centre.
Since losing control of the national capital Khartoum last month, the RSF has ramped up its military campaign across Darfur in a bid to tighten its grip on western Sudan.
Zamzam was the first area in Sudan where a UN-backed report confirmed famine conditions last year. By December, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned that famine had spread to other camps — including Abu Shouk and Al Salam — and into parts of southern Sudan.
The ongoing conflict erupted in April 2023 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. It has since claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over 12 million people, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Although the army has reclaimed Khartoum, Sudan remains deeply divided, with the RSF controlling large areas of Darfur and the south, while the army holds the north and east.
On Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that the situation in Sudan is becoming increasingly dire for civilians.
“The conflict is heading into its third year with deeply catastrophic consequences,” he said. “Two years of this brutal and senseless conflict must be a wake-up call to the parties to lay down their weapons and for the international community to act. Sudan must not remain on this destructive path.”
