An international rights group on Wednesday accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary fighting Sudan’s military, of committing horrific war crimes during an April assault on the country’s largest displacement camp in the Darfur region.
Amnesty International’s latest report detailed that the RSF rampaged through the Zamzam camp near El-Fasher, systematically engaging in civilian killings, widespread hostage-taking, and the destruction of essential facilities like mosques, schools, and health clinics.
Consequently, the organization unequivocally called for these documented actions to be immediately investigated as war crimes, emphasizing the deliberate targeting of desperate and vulnerable populations.
“The RSF’s horrific and deliberate assault on desperate, hungry civilians in Zamzam camp laid bare once again its alarming disregard for human life,” declared Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general.
This report marks the latest of numerous accusations levied by international rights groups against the RSF for atrocities, which include mass killings and rapes across towns and cities, particularly throughout Darfur.
The power struggle between the military and the RSF erupted into war in April 2023, killing an estimated 40,000 people and displacing over 14 million people, creating the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Eyewitness Accounts Detail Brutality
Survivors and aid workers recounted that RSF fighters wantonly gunned down both men and women, subjected others to brutal torture, and perpetrated the sexual assault of women and girls, effectively emptying the 20-year-old camp.
Amnesty confirmed that 47 people, including those sheltering in homes and a clinic, died in the 11-12 April assault, which virtually emptied the camp that once housed 500,000 residents. One survivor told the rights group that fighters stormed his compound, shooting and killing his 80-year-old brother and 30-year-old nephew, adding, “No-one is concerned with our situation.”
Nevertheless, the RSF quickly denied the allegations, claiming the military used the camp as a base and asserting its fighters never targeted civilians. Amnesty subsequently criticized the United Arab Emirates for its continued support of the RSF, even while documenting the group’s ongoing commission of war crimes.
Callamard specifically called for ceasing all arms transfers to the UAE, arguing, “The arms embargo and focusing and denouncing the role of the UAE at the moment is absolutely key to bringing some kind of small respite to the population.”
