Rights group Amnesty International has called for a war crimes investigation into an assault by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a displaced persons camp in Sudan’s North Darfur state earlier this year.
A report issued by the NGO on Wednesday documents accounts of atrocities committed by the RSF during a large-scale attack on the Zamzam camp. The RSF has been accused of indiscriminate killing and mass rape, among other crimes, numerous times amid its conflict with the military government of Sudan that has been running since April 2023.
The assault on the famine-hit camp came as the paramilitary force laid siege to el-Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur. The RSF now holds full control over the state and is pushing eastwards into the vast central Sudanese region of West Kordofan, adding to the millions of people who have been displaced.
The attacks on Zamzam, the largest for internally displaced people in North Darfur state, between April 11 and 13 saw RSF fighters deploy explosives in populated areas and shoot randomly in residential areas, according to the report.
The document details dozens of accounts of deadly attacks on civilians, with witnesses recounting seeing RSF fighters fatally shoot at least 47 civilians who were hiding in their homes, fleeing the violence or sheltering in a mosque.
“The RSF’s horrific and deliberate assault on desperate, hungry civilians in Zamzam camp laid bare once again its alarming disregard for human life,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary-general.
“Civilians were ruthlessly attacked, killed, robbed of items critical to their survival and livelihood, and left without recourse to justice.”
The assault, which also saw RSF fighters deliberately set fire to homes and other buildings, and undertake acts “that may amount to” rape and pillage, caused an estimated 400,000 people to flee the camp during two days alone, the report said.
