At least 100 people, including 20 children and 9 aid workers, were killed in a two-day attack by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on famine-hit displacement camps in North Darfur, according to the UN. The attacks targeted Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps and the city of El-Fasher.
Sudan camps attacked: At least 100 people, including 20 children and nine aid workers, were killed in a two-day attack by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias on famine-stricken displacement camps in Darfur, a senior United Nations official said on Saturday. The assaults began on Friday, targeting the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps and the nearby city of El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. The violence continued into Saturday.
Health workers, children killed in hospital attack
Nine aid workers were killed while running one of the few remaining operational health facilities in the Zamzam camp, Nkweta-Salami said in a statement. Among them were six medical staff from Relief International, including physician Dr Mahmoud Babaker Idris and the group’s regional head, Adam Babaker Abdallah, according to the Sudanese Doctors’ Union. The union accused the RSF of being behind the “criminal and barbaric” act.
Civilians flee as El-Fasher comes under attack
The offensive forced around 2,400 people to flee the camps and El-Fasher, according to a local displacement group. The city remains under the control of Sudan’s military, which has been fighting the RSF since a civil war broke out in April 2023. The UN says over 24,000 people have been killed in the conflict, though local sources estimate the real toll is much higher.
Zamzam and Abu Shouk together house more than 700,000 displaced people who had fled previous rounds of violence in Darfur. Nkweta-Salami called the attacks “another deadly and unacceptable escalation” targeting civilians and humanitarian personnel.
Crisis deepens in famine-struck Sudan
The two camps are among five areas officially declared famine-hit by the global hunger monitoring body, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Sudan is currently grappling with the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with about 25 million people—half its population—facing extreme hunger. Although Sudan’s military recently recaptured some areas in the capital Khartoum, the RSF continues to control much of Darfur and other regions.
(Based on AP inputs)
