At least 40 civilians have been reported killed after Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) allegedly attacked a famine-hit camp for internally displaced people in the Darfur part of the country.
The RSF troops were said to have stormed Abu Shouk camp, opening fire inside homes and on the streets, forcing several already displaced people to flee the area in search of alternative places to seek refuge.
According to the local Emergency Response Room, one of hundreds of volunteer networks providing front-line aid since war erupted between the Sudanese army and the RSF in April 2023, at least 19 others were wounded in the attack.
The rescue group said civilians were “killed either by stray bullets or direct executions” at the camp, located on the northern outskirts of el-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur still held by the Sudanese army.
The local resistance committee, a pro-democracy volunteer group, confirmed the toll of at least 40 killed in Monday’s attack.
The group condemned what it called “horrific violations being committed against innocent, unarmed people”.
In recent months, el-Fasher and nearby displacement camps have come under renewed RSF attacks after the paramilitary was pushed out of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, by the army in March.
A major RSF offensive in April on the Zamzam camp displaced tens of thousands of people, and many sought shelter in el-Fasher.
The war between Sudan’s army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions, and created what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
The conflict has in effect split the country in two, with the army holding the north, east, and centre while the RSF dominates nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.
Last year, famine was declared in three camps around el-Fasher, including Abu Shouk, and the UN warned it could spread to the city by May.
At a community kitchen in el-Fasher, organisers said some of the children and women they serve arrive there with swollen bellies, sunken eyes, and signs of acute malnutrition, according to the AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, in North Kordofan state in central Sudan, the RSF has been accused of displacing more than 3,000 families from 66 villages due to fighting since early August, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.
The group also said the RSF looted their properties and stole their money and livestock.
Those displaced ended up arriving in Khartoum and White Nile provinces last week.
The recent attacks on the villages in the province killed 18 civilians and injured dozens, according to the latest update by the UN.
