Key Points
- A UN report says more than 1,000 civilians were killed when militants seized a displacement camp in April.
- About one-third of the victims, at least 319 people, were summarily executed, according to survivor testimony.
- Survivors reported widespread killings, rape, torture, abductions, and attacks on civilians.
More than 1,000 civilians were killed when a Sudanese paramilitary group took over a famine-stricken displacement camp in Sudan’s Darfur region in April, according to a report by the United Nations’ Human Rights Office.
For months before the 11 – 13 April assault, the Rapid Support Forces blocked entry of food and supplies to the Zamzam camp, which had housed nearly half a million people displaced by civil war, according to the UN report released on Thursday.
During the takeover, the RSF directed attacks against civilians, the UN report said, and survivors reported widespread killings, rape, torture and abductions, with at least 319 people executed in the camp or as they tried to flee.
They then turned their attack on the camp’s last remaining medical clinic, killing nine aid workers, according to Relief International who ran the facility.
Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, recently issued a stark reminder about the grim realities in conflict zones. In a statement accompanying an 18-page report, Turk highlighted that the intentional targeting of civilians and those no longer part of combat operations could be categorized as the war crime of murder.
The findings are based on interviews conducted in July 2025 with 155 survivors and witnesses who fled to Chad.
One of them testified that eight people hiding in a room in the camp were killed by RSF fighters who inserted rifles through a window and shot at the group, the report said.
Amidst these accusations, the United States, alongside various human rights organizations, has pointed fingers at a paramilitary group, accusing them of committing acts that could be classified as genocide in the Darfur region.
The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. The group has previously denied harming civilians and claims of genocide, saying it will hold its forces to account for any violations.
The April attack was a precursor to the attack on Al-Fasher city to the north in late October, where the RSF is accused of summarily executing and kidnapping thousands of people. Most of those thought to have lived in the city are unaccounted for.
On Tuesday, the UN human rights office separately said drones had killed over 100 civilians in Sudan’s Kordofan this month.
Meanwhile, the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway on Thursday urged Sudan’s leaders to “urgently reverse course” and called on all parties to stop the armed attacks and return to a ceasefire, saying a return to even greater levels of violence would also destabilise the region.
“The transitional government must end its aerial attacks against its own citizens; release political prisoners; use public revenue to pay public sector employees; and fund health, education, and other essential services for its citizens,” the nations wrote in a joint statement.
