The casualties occurred between April 11 and April 13, 2025, when Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the Zamzam displacement camp, once the largest refuge for people fleeing violence in Darfur. The camp, which sat near the provincial capital of el‑Fasher, had been home to almost half a million internally displaced people.
According to the U.N. report, the RSF restricted access to food, water, and essential supplies for months prior to the assault. During the takeover, fighters directed attacks against civilians, and survivors recounted widespread killings, rape, torture, and abductions as the camp was overrun.
At least 319 people were summarily executed either inside the camp or as they tried to flee, the report found. One witness told U.N. investigators that fighters shot into a room where civilians were hiding, killing everyone inside.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned the deliberate targeting of civilians, saying such attacks 'may constitute the war crime of murder.' He urged that those responsible be held accountable under international law.
The findings are based on interviews conducted in July with 155 survivors and witnesses who escaped to neighbouring Chad. Many described scenes of chaos and violence, with fighters entering homes, marketplaces, schools, and health facilities to commit atrocities.
The takeover of Zamzam was part of the RSF's broader effort to seize el‑Fasher, the last major urban stronghold of Sudan's regular army in the Darfur region. Late in October, the RSF captured the city in a prolonged offensive, and international rights groups reported further massacres and mass detentions there.
Humanitarian organisations describe the conflict in Sudan, now in its third year, as one of the world's most severe crises. Millions have been displaced, and large swaths of territory have seen repeated violence against civilians.
Rania Umutoni
