December 5, El Fasher — Eight people were killed and six injured after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled Zamzam camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in North Darfur on Wednesday, the camp’s senior management said.
In a statement, they called for civilians in the camp not to wander around and appealed to international organizations to intervene immediately. The RSF had first shelled the camp on Sunday and Monday, leaving approximately 21 dead.
Zamzam is Sudan’s biggest displacement camp, hosting around two million people. It is located 15km from El Fasher, the last stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the region. The RSF are fighting intensely to take it over.
Now thousands are fleeing the camp. Nearly 430 households were estimated to have been displaced from Zamzam on Tuesday, following the repeated shelling in the camp.
On Tuesday, a group of international non-governmental organizations also released a statement saying that the RSF’s intense bombardment of Zamzam is devastating civilians and forcing aid workers to leave the site.
“The attacks on Zamzam IDP camp mark an escalation in violence on a site which has previously been spared from active hostilities,” the statement said. “This underscores the reality that there are now no safe places for people to flee to in North Darfur.”
The United Nations Resident Coordination in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, expressed her grave concern. “Civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected under international humanitarian law and should never be a target,” she said.