RSF Sudan Attack on Zamzam Camp Killed 1,000 Civilians: UN Report

JAKARTA - A United Nations (UN) report released Thursday said Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out mass killings, torture and abductions during a three-day offensive on a refugee camp in April.

At least 1,013 civilians were killed during the April 11-13 assault on Camp Zamzam, which a U.N. Human Rights Office report described as a "grave violation of international human rights law."

Of those killed, 319 were executed without trial, either in the camps or as they tried to escape, according to the report, quoted from The National (18/12).

Some people were killed in their homes during house-to-house searches by the RSF. Others were killed in major markets, in schools, health centers, and mosques. More than 400,000 residents of the camp's 500,000 original inhabitants have been displaced by the offensive.

In Zamzam's report, a community leader recounted how two RSF fighters put their rifles through a hole in the window of the room where he was hiding with 10 other men and opened fire, "killing eight of them randomly."

The report also detailed patterns of sexual violence. At least 104 survivors, comprising 75 women, 26 girls, and 3 boys, mostly from the Zaghawa ethnic group, said they were victims of "sexual violence, including rape."

Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said. "The deliberate killing of civilians or people not taking part in hostilities can constitute a war crime of murder."

"There must be an impartial, thorough, and effective investigation into the attack on the Zamzam internally displaced persons camp, and those responsible for serious violations of international law must be punished in a fair process," he added.

Zamzam, in North Darfur, western Sudan, is one of the country's largest internally displaced persons camps.

The horrific report comes days after an investigation by Lighthouse Reports, conducted in collaboration with CNN, revealed an ethnic-motivated campaign of atrocities carried out by the Sudanese Armed Forces, primarily targeting non-Arab communities.

Both parties in the Sudanese civil war have been accused of war crimes. Several of their leaders have been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.

Sudan's military chief General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, who is sanctioned by the US and accused of allowing his troops to use chemical weapons, has rejected calls for a ceasefire and vowed to continue fighting until the RSF is defeated. His forces have been linked to Islam-backed figures and influence within Sudan's security apparatus.

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump's senior adviser for Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos said Washington and Riyadh had agreed on "practical steps" to implement a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan.

The civil war in Sudan, which broke out since 2023, has killed tens of thousands of people, causing nearly 13 million people to flee, and creating the world's largest famine and refugee crisis.

On Thursday, power supplies to major cities in Sudan, including the capital Khartoum and Port Sudan, were disrupted after a drone attack killed power plants in the country's east, according to local media reports.

The Sudanese army recaptured the capital in January and also controls the country's eastern, central and northern regions. Meanwhile, the RSF controls the western Darfur region and parts of Kordofan.