Over 100 Killed in Attacks on Darfur Displacement Camps

Sudan’s notorious paramilitary group has launched a deadly two-day assault on displacement camps in the famine-stricken Darfur region, killing more than 100 people—including at least 20 children and nine aid workers—according to a United Nations official.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias attacked the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps, along with parts of the nearby city of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, beginning Friday, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan.

El-Fasher remains under military control, and has been a flashpoint in Sudan’s brutal civil war, now in its second year. The conflict between the army and the RSF has claimed over 24,000 lives, according to UN estimates, though local activists warn the true death toll is likely much higher.

The attacks resumed on Saturday, Nkweta-Salami confirmed, calling the violence a “deadly and unacceptable escalation” in a series of assaults targeting displaced civilians and humanitarian workers. “Nine aid workers were killed while operating one of the very few remaining health posts still functioning in Zamzam camp,” she said.

While the aid workers were not officially named, Sudan’s Doctors’ Union reported that six of them were medical staff with Relief International, killed when the organization’s clinic came under fire on Friday.

Relief International released a statement Saturday mourning the loss of nine team members, describing the strike as a “targeted attack on all health infrastructure in the region,” including their facility. The group also confirmed that Zamzam’s central market and hundreds of makeshift shelters were destroyed.

The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees, a Darfur-based advocacy group, said the offensive forced more than 2,400 people to flee from the camps and El-Fasher.

Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps are home to over 700,000 displaced people, many of whom have fled previous waves of violence in Darfur over the years. Nkweta-Salami warned that ongoing attacks threaten to plunge an already dire humanitarian crisis into catastrophe.