Sudan’s largest refugee camp was already struck with famine. Now it is being shelled

LAGOS, Nigeria — Sudan’s largest refugee camp — which hosts no less than half 1,000,000 individuals, hundreds of whom are affected by famine — has been attacked by artillery shelling nearly day by day for 2 weeks. Greater than 80 individuals have been killed and near 400 injured within the Zamzam camp in Sudan’s besieged western area of Darfur, based on native media.

Displaced individuals residing within the camp and help teams together with Docs With out Borders (MSF) have blamed the fixed shelling on the Fast Help Forces or RSF, the Sudanese paramilitary group locked in a brutal civil conflict with Sudan’s military since April 2023.

The siege has sparked a brand new humanitarian disaster, with the assaults stopping already very restricted portions of help into Zamzam, and leaving its few medical amenities overwhelmed. It marks an alarming turning level in a area overrun by violence and atrocities in opposition to civilians, with mounting proof from native and worldwide human rights teams of ethnic cleaning dedicated by the RSF in Darfur.

Though it’s overshadowed by wars within the Center East and Ukraine, Sudan’s 20-month battle has killed as many as 150,000 individuals, based on some estimates. It has led to the world’s worst displacement disaster, affecting 1 in 5 of the nation’s prewar inhabitants. The U.S. is amongst these accusing the RSF of ethnic cleaning, and likewise accuses Sudan’s navy of conflict crimes. In a press release final December, Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned: “Since the outbreak of fighting on April 15, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have unleashed horrific violence, death, and destruction across Sudan. Civilians have borne the brunt of this needless conflict.”

Sudan is in the meantime dealing with unprecedented ranges of starvation, with the United Nations saying 26 million individuals are at “crisis levels.” The Zamzam camp is the one place on the planet the place famine has been formally declared.

On Friday, U.N. Secretary-Basic António Guterres referred to as for an “immediate ceasefire” in Sudan. Peace talks have failed to date. At a U.N. Safety Council assembly on Thursday, Sudan’s consultant accused the United Arab Emirates of backing the RSF, one thing the UAE has strongly denied.

Solely 2 worldwide help teams are functioning in Zamzam

Earlier than final 12 months, 120,000 individuals resided within the Zamzam camp. Since then, its inhabitants has soared to no less than 500,000, with probably as much as 1,000,000 individuals, the help group Reduction Worldwide says. Most of these killed and injured within the camp have been victims of shelling, help teams and consultants investigating the assaults say. Docs have handled youngsters as younger as 4 years outdated for gunshot wounds and trauma.

“Patients and medical staff are leaving the camp and trying to run for their lives,” MSF mentioned in a press release earlier this month. “Not only have people been starving, but they are also now being bombarded.”

MSF and Reduction Worldwide are the one two worldwide help organizations nonetheless completely primarily based within the camp.

“We can’t manage complicated trauma cases that require surgery,” mentioned Melanie Kempster, international well being and diet director at Reduction Worldwide. A number of vital circumstances are going untreated, she mentioned.

“We have to refer those cases to the only functional hospital in El Fasher,” a besieged metropolis 9 miles away, she mentioned. “But doing so is really dangerous. Conflicting parties are holding positions close to the camp entrance and on the only exit road to that hospital.”

A Reduction Worldwide driver was killed making the journey to the hospital earlier this 12 months.

The RSF has denied attacking the humanitarian camp, which might represent a conflict crime. However RSF proxies have justified participating in battle round Zamzam, insisting the combat is in opposition to armed teams working alongside Sudan’s military.

In footage posted earlier this month by native Sudanese media, and verified by NPR, displaced individuals reacted in anguish after an assault on the camp which left automobiles and huts destroyed.

“This is not a military camp,” one particular person cried. “It’s not a camp for armed movements. This is the home of a displaced citizen. An innocent person’s blood.”

Present assaults have compounded Zamzam residents’ desperation

Zamzam camp was fashioned 20 years in the past to shelter tens of hundreds of people that’d been displaced in the course of the genocide in Darfur, the place largely Arab militias, backed by the Sudanese authorities, launched an offensive in opposition to insurgent teams within the area. Greater than 200,000 individuals, largely Darfuri civilians, have been killed between 2003 and 2005, based on Human Rights Watch. The dominant militia group answerable for atrocities was the Janjaweed Arab militia, which later advanced to turn into the RSF.

Because the conflict broke out final 12 months, the RSF has swept by way of Darfur, controlling nearly the complete area. It’s accused of widespread atrocities, together with sexual violence, in opposition to native ethnic teams, mirroring violence seen in the course of the genocide.

Over a long time, the positioning has advanced right into a type of metropolis, completely internet hosting refugees from the Darfur genocide and folks displaced from more moderen violence. Tents and shelters have progressively been changed by everlasting constructions, together with houses, hospitals and colleges.

However with the present conflict, the humanitarian scenario within the camp has deteriorated, resulting in the official affirmation of famine in August. Tens of hundreds are struggling hunger and malnutrition, with youngsters dying nearly day by day, based on help teams. Many have been pressured to eat peanut shells and animal fodder often known as “abbaz,” largely made up of grass.

The shelling in current weeks has compounded the desperation. Docs working for MSF and Reduction Worldwide spoke to NPR from the camp and El Fasher on situation of anonymity, fearing reprisals from the RSF. One physician in Zamzam mentioned the hovering accidents have been overwhelming the little medical help they might present.

“We lack basic equipment, even iodine,” he mentioned.

One other physician described the present scenario as “a disaster.”

“I want the world to hear us, to get a fast response to us, to help us to get out from this crisis,” this physician mentioned.

Individuals making an attempt to flee the world round Zamzam are sometimes trapped

Final week, the identical physician fled the shelling in Zamzam to El Fasher, the final main metropolis within the Darfur area not beneath the management of the RSF. It’s dwelling to almost 1 million individuals. The assaults on Zamzam are an extension of a protracted siege on El Fasher, most of whose perimeter RSF fighters have blockaded for a number of months. Town’s sole functioning hospital has been repeatedly attacked, most just lately by a drone strike blamed on the RSF, killing no less than 9 individuals.

The assault on the area has led hundreds to flee each El Fasher and Zamzam, trying perilous journeys on foot, risking being caught within the battle to succeed in safer cities greater than 40 miles away. However most are successfully trapped, as RSF forces are stationed on most main roads.

“It’s a ‘kill box,'” mentioned Nathaniel Raymond, government director of Yale College’s Humanitarian Analysis Lab, which has been monitoring the battle. Individuals from Zamzam have been pressured to flee both south, towards RSF positions, he mentioned, or into desert-like environment, the place they threat hunger.

“We can see from space people camping under trees, on the side of the road,” he mentioned, referring to satellite tv for pc imagery analyzed by his group. “They’re going out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

Most of these fleeing are already struggling excessive bodily challenges, he mentioned.

“You have to visually think of what these people look like,” Raymond mentioned. “They’re immunocompromised. The children, many of them have started to develop conditions where their bodies are starting to absorb their own muscle. You have a situation where even a skin infection can kill them.”

There’s new proof of doable UAE help of the RSF

Proof of the RSF’s assault continues to emerge, together with the affect of overseas powers alleged to be fueling the conflict, together with Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. A circulation of arms into Sudan has continued regardless of a U.N. Safety Council arms embargo on the nation till September 2025.

However criticism has centered particularly over the alleged function of the UAE. In a report printed final week by the Yale Humanitarian Analysis Lab, researchers discovered Zamzam camp and El Fasher have been being shelled by artillery weapons stationed 22 miles northeast of Zamzam. The precise weapon getting used is an AH4 155 mm Howitzer, produced by a weapons producer in China, the researchers mentioned. In response to U.S. Protection Division information reviewed by Yale HRL, the UAE is the one recognized nation to have bought this weapon.

“This is one of the most major clues to date of potential direct UAE support to the RSF,” Raymond mentioned. “Nobody else other than China is known to have this.”

This week, White Home Coordinator for the Center East and North Africa Brett McGurk instructed U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat and member of the Senate overseas relations committee, that the UAE has knowledgeable the Biden administration that “it is not now transferring any weapons to the RSF and will not do so going forward.”