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“100,000 May Die” as UAE-Backed Forces Attack Sudan’s Largest Displacement Camp
*Zamzam camp at imminent risk of ethnic cleansing, aid groups warn*
*Calls for urgent humanitarian corridor for the famine-hit camp*
*RSF has surrounded Zamzam, Yale HRL describes a "killbox"*

FRI 14 FEB -- Up to 100,000 people could be killed in attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Sudan’s largest displacement camp, an aid agency has warned. Zamzam Camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), in North Darfur, currently hosts an estimated one million people, many of them from the Zaghawa tribe. Over the last two days it has been the target of repeated attacks by the UAE-backed RSF.

Many of these IDPs were originally displaced during the Darfur genocide committed in part by Janjaweed militias in the early 2000s. The camp has been a haven for many civilians who have been displaced since war broke out on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, who are out to finish the genocide in Darfur they began as the Janjaweed, still commanded by Gen Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

“If the RSF comes into Zamzam everyone will be killed. It will be ethnic cleansing,” said Aria, an international humanitarian worker whose real name has been hidden for her security. Her organisation is providing assistance in the camp. She told Avaaz that “we will see atrocities unlike anything we have seen since 2004. The death toll may reach up to 100,000.”

The RSF, funded and armed by the United Arab Emirates, launched its attack on Zamzam on 11 February. Eyewitnesses told the Sudan Tribune that a large number of troops entered the camp, began looting and firing “randomly” on groups of civilians, and razed the market. The attack ended only after the troops were repelled by the Joint Forces, a coalition of rebel groups allied to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

A renewed attack began early the following day, 12 February, when the RSF entered the camp from the east before being repelled by Joint Forces reinforcements from El Fasher, a city around 10 miles (16km) to the north that has been under siege by the RSF for the past 8 months. That evening, Darfur regional governor Minni Minawi said Zamzam had been “subjected to the most heinous” attack, adding that “all belongings” had been burned and livestock set alight after being doused in gasoline.

The RSF claimed it was attacking its military rivals, not civilians in Zamzam, asserting the camp was a legitimate target. Yale HRL reported that “"Popular resistance forces within Zamzam and Joint Forces from El-Fasher purportedly repelled the assault on both days, and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) conducted airstrikes on RSF vehicles from Zamzam on 11 February 2025."

Shayna Lewis, Sudan Specialist at Avaaz, said: “The RSF likely violated international humanitarian law (IHL) in their attack on Zamzam. The deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian objects is banned under IHL, and all belligerents must distinguish between combatants and non-combatants at all times. Even if the RSF were pursuing military targets in the camp, the proportionality of such an attack is highly dubious. These attacks must be independently investigated and may constitute war crimes.”

Footage purportedly shot in Zamzam - including some shared by Minawi, who is also the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (Minawi faction) - showed columns of black smoke rising into the sky. BBC Verify said it had confirmed social media footage that showed troops standing in front of flames waving their guns while claiming to be in the camp.

The director general of the North Darfur Health Ministry, Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, said more than 31 people were killed and 81 severely injured in the attack on Zamzam, but the real number was far higher. The road to El Fasher has been cut by the RSF so the injured can't get there, and died out of sight. Médecins Sans Frontières Sudan said its field hospital in Zamzam received 7 people on 11 February who were dead on arrival. The site treated a further 23 injured people that day and 17 the following day, it said. It added that the nearest facility capable of providing trauma care, Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, could not be reached because of heavy clashes on the road to the city.

The fighting is also hampering humanitarian work in the area. At least two members of RI staff were killed in the attacks, while UNICEF said the violence is putting “hundreds of thousands of children at risk”. The Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA), which operates a clinic, community kitchen, and programming for children in Zamzam, said the RSF had used heavy weaponry against unarmed civilians, “resulting in casualties and the complete destruction of the camp’s market”. SAPA has lost contact with its team in the area for over 24 hours amid a communications blackout.

The latest report from the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab said satellite images suggested that more than half the main market in camp had been razed. It also said the “pattern of thermal scarring” across the camp was “consistent with intentional razing in a ground attack”. The damage to the market will further reduce civilians’ access to food in the famine-stricken camp.

Kashif Shafique, Sudan Country Director for Relief International (RI) warned that, if the situation “remains the same for the next two to three weeks, all food will run out [in Zamzam]” and that RI would run out of medical supplies for its hospital. The organisation has 200 metric tonnes of supplies waiting to enter Zamzam. This week, the UN called for the removal of all restrictions on aid imposed by SARHO, an aid agency set up by the RSF, which has reportedly not allowed any medical supplies into the camp for the last five months. Shafique said a humanitarian corridor was needed to ensure the safety of humanitarian personnel and the secure delivery of supplies to North Darfur.

Footage shared on social media by the Darfur Victims Support group showed hundreds of people reportedly displaced by the attacks on Zamzam. According to the International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), approximately 8,000 households were displaced from the nearby village of Saloma and the surrounding area last week.

Yale HRL described a "killbox" in Zamzam, with the RSF surrounding the camp and nowhere safe for people to flee. Its report said satellite imagery suggested there had been arson attacks on Saloma, as well as the neighbouring village of Ammar Gedid, on 7 February. Human rights observers in Zamzam told Avaaz an estimated 40,000 people had fled to El Fasher this week. They warned that the huge numbers of displaced people would need urgent access to clean water, food and medicines.

One human rights group in Darfur, who Avaaz is not naming for security reasons, accused the RSF of turning Zamzam into a “killing ground” and “targeting unarmed men, women, and children with systematic brutality”.

“Reports from the ground describe a scene of unimaginable suffering—mass killings, widespread sexual violence, the deliberate burning of shelters, and the destruction of vital humanitarian aid supplies,” it said. “Thousands of displaced civilians, already living in desperate conditions, are now facing massacres, starvation, and relentless terror.”

It added that the attacks were “not just another episode of violence” but a “coordinated campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the people of Darfur”. “We call upon the international community, the United Nations, and regional bodies to immediately intervene and stop this ongoing massacre. Urgent humanitarian aid, protection for civilians, and accountability for the perpetrators are needed now,” it said.


VOICES FROM THE GROUND

The RSF is reportedly in control of all roads leaving Zamzam camp, significantly reducing civilians’ ability to flee to safety. Bashir* in Tawila told Avaaz that “there's a new wave of displaced people coming from Zamzam, Shagrha, and other areas. Some arrived [to] Tawilah yesterday.

"We have been receiving displaced people from Zamzam. One of them told me that he started his journey yesterday at 7 PM from Zamzam and arrived in Tawila at 12 PM today. It was a very long journey, around 100 kilometers. The journey was tough, he had to be very careful not to be caught. He left his family and had no idea what their situation was.

“A number of families arrived, in some cases leaving behind family members because they couldn’t get them out. The market [in Zamzam] was captured and RSF burned everything. We even see the smoke from here in Tawila. It's like a cloud taking over, and we can also see the flames.

“Families in Zamzam are trying to hide themselves and trying to get out, but RSF is going from door to door to find people, loot their belongings, and kill the men. We don't have news from Zamzam today."

*Names have been changed due to safety concerns.


NEWS IN BRIEF
  • According to a report by Ultra Sudan, the U.S. freeze on foreign aid has severely impacted humanitarian operations in Sudan, halting food shipments worth $340 million globally, including 30,000 tons of rice and lentils now at risk of spoilage due to improper storage conditions. The situation has particularly affected Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs). Across the country, the ERRs said they had been forced to close over 700 community kitchens. Some 217 community kitchens in East Nile state have shut, leaving only two operational. Currently, 24.6 million Sudanese face food insecurity. This number could rise to 26 million by May. The aid freeze has also disrupted nutrition programs for children with severe malnutrition and halted epidemic disease control programs for malaria and tuberculosis, which were dependent on U.S. support.
  • SAF continues to make significant advances in Khartoum, now controlling parts of central and southern capital with forces just kilometers from the Presidential Palace, as army leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced plans to form a "technocratic" wartime government with a prime minister, ruling out both negotiations with the RSF and the participation of the banned National Congress Party or the recently dissolved Taqaddum. He also promised a new constitution, while calling for diplomatic support from the UN, African Union, and Arab League for this transition roadmap, BBC News reports.
  • The UN accused the RSF’s aid agency, SARHO, of imposing “persistent restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles” on aid deliveries and called for the unimpeded flow of “life-saving assistance” into Sudan.
  • According to a report by Manassa on February 10, 2025, the United Civil Forces Coalition (Qimam) has finalized preparations for forming a government in areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The coalition has completed drafting a temporary constitution and plans to sign a political charter on February 17 in Kenya. In response, the Port Sudan-based government, backed by SAF, is taking preemptive measures to address the implications of two parallel governments. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced plans for the formation of a technocratic government.
  • Indiscriminate SAF airstrikes in Nyala, Sudan's second biggest city, continue to pound residential neighbourhoods. Ayin reported at least 15 airstrikes took place in January that killed 31 people and wounded 61 others. The city has been under the control of the RSF for over a year. The city is a hub for the RSF’s commercial activity and supply route, which SAF uses to justify its airstrikes, despite the majority of strikes hitting civilian neighbourhoods.
FOOTAGE & IMAGES Avaaz's weekly dispatch features the latest developments, first-hand testimony, footage, photos, stats and analysis on Sudan. We can connect you with voices from the ground, experts and survivors of the war. Contact sudan@avaaz.org for more information.

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