Zamzam Camp Massacre: Over 450 Civilians Killed as RSF Launches Deadly Assault

We are truly devastated to report that on April 13th, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the Zamzam IDP camp after launching a depraved and genocidal attack on its famine-stricken residents. Throughout several days of attacks, starting on Friday, April 11th, the RSF murdered over 450 people as they rode through the camp on a ground invasion, destroying hundreds of homes and the camp’s main market. They additionally destroyed the camp’s only clinic, killing all 9 of the humanitarian staff that worked there. As their homes burned down, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced yet again by ethnically motivated attacks while the remaining survivors were left with no food, water or medical assistance, condemning them to a certain death, either by bullets or starvation, as the RSF takes control of the camp. 

At the start of the war, the Zamzam IDP camp housed around 450,000 internally displaced Sudanese civilians, many of whom had been originally displaced twenty years ago during the Darfur Genocide. Today that number is thought to have doubled due to those newly displaced from recent attacks on the surrounding area. After more than two decades of expulsion from their land, Sudan’s Indigenous African communities in Darfur are facing ethnic cleansing and genocide yet again. The situation in Darfur today is even worse and more dire than the horrors of the early 2000s and requires an urgent response. 

This attack is a grave escalation and acceleration of the RSF’s plan to completely rid the Darfur region of its Indigenous African population and establish an Arab supremacist state in Darfur and all of the other areas they control. This incident clearly demonstrates the horrors and atrocities that will occur in Sudan as long as the international community continues to enable the RSF militias and their cruelly calculated plans for the country. Whether it’s the UAE directly arming the RSF, Western nations fueling the conflict through the global arms trade, or the Kenyan government providing a platform for the RSF and its allies to sign a founding charter for a partitioned Sudan, the international community must immediately end all complicity in the genocide of the Sudanese people and take decisive action to stop the war.

We are deeply saddened to say that we have lost touch with our team on the ground within the Zamzam IDP camp and hope you will join us in advocating for the protection of all those currently in North Darfur.  Livesaving aid and protection is urgently needed for the most vulnerable people in Sudan who are facing genocide, starvation, and ethnic cleansing while courageously standing up for their communities. The Sudanese people and the humanitarian workers doing everything they can to support them deserve protection from the endless cycle of violence and death that has plagued Sudan for decades. It must end now. 

We call on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the African Union, the United States, and the broader international community to take the following steps to end the suffering and save lives in Sudan:

• Urgent ceasefire in North Darfur to enable aid access to the desperately needed living assistance for those displaced from Zamzam camp.
• Immediately authorize and deploy civilian protection forces to protect the innocent Sudanese people, particularly in Darfur; 
• Impose criminal and financial accountability for individuals responsible for committing past and present genocide and war crimes in Darfur now;
• Pressure the warring parties to immediately cease all attacks and strictly adhere to a permanent, verifiable ceasefire;
• Enable urgent and unimpeded access to humanitarian aid for all in need across Sudan;
• Press the warring parties to stop the torture, murder, rape, and starvation of civilians as a strategy of war;
• U.S., UNSC, and allies must hold the regional and international enablers supplying weapons in Sudan accountable; 
• The United States must stop selling arms to the UAE and prevent genocide in Sudan.

We call on our supporters to stand with us, speak out and demand that we must no longer turn our backs on the millions facing mass atrocities in Sudan. We cannot allow the Sudanese people to be slaughtered in silence. Together, through our collective voice and action, we can end the suffering, stop the genocide, and bring those responsible to justice. 

With gratitude,
Niemat Ahmadi
President, Darfur Women Action Group (DWAG)
The DWAG Team