UN Reports and Eyewitnesses Detail Mass Atrocities in Darfur Displacement Camps

Displaced survivors and international observers have documented widespread atrocities committed by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces during military offensives against displacement camps in North Darfur. Reports compiled by the United Nations Human Rights Office and accounts from eye-witnesses detail summary executions, deliberate blockades, and mass casualties occurring between mid-2024 and late 2025.

The offensive on the Zamzam displacement camp near el-Fasher, which was established in 2004 to house civilians fleeing earlier Darfur conflicts, escalated sharply in early 2025. According to camp survivors, the paramilitary group maintained a siege that prevented food and essential supplies from entering the settlement, where humanitarian agencies had confirmed famine conditions in August 2024. Residents reported subsisting on animal feed and grass before armed fighters launched a heavy three-day assault on April 11, 2025.

Investigations by the UN Human Rights Office confirmed that at least 1,013 civilians were killed during the attack on Zamzam. The UN report established that 319 of the victims were summarily executed in residential areas, markets, medical clinics, and places of worship. Human rights monitors also recorded widespread sexual violence, including gang rape and sexual slavery, directed primarily against members of the Zaghawa community.

The fall of Zamzam preceded further offensives against remaining civilian strongholds across the region. In August 2025, the Rapid Support Forces captured the nearby Abu Shouk camp, where UN monitors recorded at least 40 civilian deaths and 19 injuries, while the International Organization for Migration documented the immediate flight of 500 residents. On October 26, 2025, paramilitary forces seized control of el-Fasher itself, with UN estimates placing the total death toll from the city's fall and subsequent fleeing attempts at over 6,000 people.

In official statements, the Rapid Support Forces leadership denied engaging in systematic targeting of non-combatants in Darfur, while acknowledging that individual fighters had committed abuses. Fleeing residents, including former camp administrators now living in Omdurman and surrounding provinces, have gathered testimony and records of victims, citing the necessity of preserving documentation of the atrocities following the destruction of the camps.

Written by Sandy van Dongen sandy.vandongen@alpineweekly.com