Survivors of the raid on the Zamzam camp in Sudan recount executions and arson

Najlaa Ahmed recounted the time the Rapid Support Forces troops flooded into Darfur’s Zamzam displacement camp, destroying and pillaging homes while shells rained down and drones hovered overhead, while she was seated among mothers and children in the blazing sun.

As she ran, she lost sight of most of her relatives. She was one of six survivors who told Reuters about the raid’s executions and arson. “I don’t know what’s become of them, my mother, father, siblings, my grandmother, I came here with strangers,” she added.

Two years into its war with the Sudanese army, the paramilitary organization Rapid Support Forces took control of the large camp in North Darfur a week ago. According to the UN, the attack killed at least 300 people and drove 400,000 to escape.

A request for comment was not answered by the RSF, which has disputed allegations of atrocities and said that army-aligned fighters were using the camp as a base. The raid has been condemned by humanitarian organizations as a deliberate assault on famine-stricken population.

After being forced to flee the RSF in a couple of months for the third time, Najlaa Ahmed said she was able to evacuate her children to safety in Tawila, a town 60 kilometers (40 miles) from Zamzam that is under the hands of a neutral rebel organization.

On her most recent trip, she claimed to have seen seven individuals perish from malnutrition and thirst, while others passed away from their wounds.

Videos of Abdelrahim Dagalo, the RSF’s second-in-command, pledging to feed and shelter displaced persons at the camp where famine was declared in August have been made public.

FOUNDED BODIES

In addition to the half a million individuals who have arrived since the war began in April 2023, the General Coordination for Displaced individuals and Refugees advocacy group reports that over 280,000 people have sought safety in Tawila.

Speaking from al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, which is 15 kilometers north of Zamzam and is under RSF control, a man who wished to remain anonymous claimed to have discovered the bodies of 24 people who were slain in an attack on a religious school, some of whom were lined up.

“They began breaking into people’s homes, stealing, and killing a few people. Following this, people started to run in various directions. Fires were present. To increase the fear, they had soldiers set buildings on fire.

Another man, an elder in the camp, claimed that in a mosque nearby to his house, the RSF had killed fourteen individuals at close range.

“People who are scared always go to the mosque to seek refuge, but they went into every mosque and shot them,” he stated.

Reuters was unable to confirm the reports on its own.

In one video, which Reuters confirmed, soldiers were seen shouting at a gathering of young and elderly men outside a mosque while questioning them about a purported military installation.

As other men lay on the ground, RSF forces were seen shooting an unarmed man in additional recordings that Reuters confirmed. One featured a gathering of dead victims surrounded by armed men who were having a good time.

According to the RSF, these videos are fraudulent.

Defend Darfur

The RSF is attempting to strengthen its hold on the Darfur region with the conquest of Zamzam. A victory in al-Fashir would strengthen the RSF’s attempts to retake the capital, Khartoum, and establish a government in parallel to the army’s, which has been gaining power recently.

In April 2023, intentions to integrate the two forces led to a conflict between the RSF and the Sudanese army, which has also been accused of crimes, which it denies. The Janjaweed militias of Darfur, whose attacks in the early 2000s resulted in the establishment of Zamzam and other displacement camps around Darfur, are the ancestors of the RSF.

In a paper released on Wednesday, Yale School of Public Health researchers stated that fires had been burning daily since Friday, scorching almost 1.7 square kilometers of the camp, including the main market.

Additionally, roadblocks were observed by the researchers throughout the camp, and witnesses informed Reuters that some individuals were being stopped from departing.

Marion Ramstein, emergency field coordinator, told Reuters that MSF received 154 injured persons in Tawila, the youngest of them was seven months old. Nearly all of them had gunshot wounds.

Before the newcomers arrived, there were already insufficient supplies of food, water, and shelter.

“The lucky ones are the ones who find a tree to sit under,” Ramstein stated.

Arriving at Tawila this week, Ahmed Mohamed claimed that troops had stolen everything he owned while traveling and that he was now sleeping on the bare earth.

“We are in need of everything a human being would need,” he stated.