Civilians evacuate as Sudan’s RSF seizes control of a key Darfur camp

The paramilitary group announced Sunday that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had taken over a large camp for displaced persons in North Darfur, following a four-day attack that the government and aid organizations claim left hundreds dead or injured.

Around 700,000 people who have been displaced by Sudan’s war are living at the Zamzam camp and the adjoining Abu Shouk camp, which have been the focal point of the fighting. Aid organizations reported that the attack devastated marketplaces, shelters, and medical institutions.

The RSF said “mercenary factions” were using the camp as a base. However, humanitarian organizations condemned the bombing as a deliberate targeting of famine-stricken populations, especially women, children, and the elderly.

With assistance from other local armed organizations, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), a Darfur militia affiliated with the national army, has been engaged in combat with the RSF in the vicinity of al-Fashir, around 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from Zamzam.

According to SLA spokesperson El-Sadiq Ali El-Nour, tens of thousands of camp residents have flooded shelters as they fled on foot to al-Fashir and are currently sleeping outside without access to food, water, or medication.

The SLA reported that intense shelling and RSF ground attacks were launched on Sunday on the city, which is the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur province. The group called for military assistance from Sudan’s armed forces and affiliated groups.

A base of several thousand Sudanese soldiers is located at al-Fashir.

“The leadership of the armed forces must act swiftly to save the lives of approximately 1.5 million people in al-Fashir urgently,” the militant group said in a statement. “Darfur must not fight alone.”

The RSF denied attacking civilians and charged its opponents on Saturday with launching a media campaign to unfairly implicate it by deploying actors and manufactured scenarios inside the camp.

It encouraged relief organizations to address the worsening situation and said on Sunday that it had arranged voluntary evacuations for families from al-Fashir and the adjacent camps.

Expectations for a shift to civilian rule were dashed when the army and RSF engaged in a power struggle that led to the outbreak of the war in Sudan in April 2023.

Since then, the war has destroyed areas like Darfur, where the RSF is currently battling to cling onto its stronghold as the army advances in Khartoum, and it has displaced millions of people.