Rapid Support Forces Massacre Over 1,000 Civilians in Three-Day Assault on Zamzam IDP Camp, UN Finds

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports that Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed at least 1,013 civilians during a three-day assault on the Zamzam internally displaced persons (IDP) camp near el-Fasher from April 11–13.

“The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia, which has been fighting against government troops in Sudan for two and a half years, killed more than 1,000 civilians during a three-day offensive in April, according to a UN report published on Thursday”

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The report is based on OHCHR monitoring and July 2025 interviews with 155 survivors and witnesses who fled to Chad.

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It documents large-scale killings as the RSF advanced on the camp.

Investigators say the attack was part of the RSF’s wider siege of el-Fasher and its campaign in North Darfur.

The finding — over 1,000 dead — was widely reported across media outlets with slightly different framings but consistent attribution to the OHCHR and the RSF assault.

The OHCHR report documents a pattern of summary executions and widespread sexual violence during the assault.

Investigators recorded at least 319 people summarily executed inside the camp or while trying to flee.

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They reported at least 104 survivors of sexual violence, including women, girls and some boys, many from the Zaghawa ethnic group.

Witnesses described killings in homes, markets, schools, health facilities and mosques, and multiple outlets cited survivor testimony collected by OHCHR teams in July 2025.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that such deliberate killing may constitute the war crime of murder, wording many reports highlighted as signaling possible legal accountability.

Investigators found that Zamzam camp had been under siege in the months before the April assault, with the RSF blocking food, water, fuel and humanitarian aid and leaving residents in desperate conditions.

“GENEVA A report published Thursday by the UN human rights office documented widespread killings, rape, torture, and abductions committed during a three-day offensive by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on the Zamzam internally displaced persons camp in April”

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Survivors told UN teams they sometimes fed children peanut shells and other improvised foods to survive.

The camp, variously described as sheltering roughly 400,000 to nearly 500,000 people, was repeatedly cut off.

The assault forced hundreds of thousands to flee again amid wider fighting across Sudan since April 2023 that has created a huge displacement and hunger crisis.

Many outlets place the Zamzam assault in a broader chronology of Sudan’s war.

The OHCHR links the April takeover to a later October assault on el-Fashir that investigators say involved additional mass killings and abductions.

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Several reports say the attack formed part of the RSF’s wider push against el-Fashir.

Outlets also connect these ground offensives to the prolonged conflict that began after the RSF resisted integration into the army in April 2023, with UN estimates of millions displaced and intense humanitarian needs.

Some reports add nearby developments such as drone strikes in Kordofan that killed civilians and international diplomatic appeals urging Sudan’s leaders to stop fighting and restore services.

The UN rights office and many outlets called for an impartial, thorough investigation and accountability, and urged the international community not to turn away from Sudan’s humanitarian emergency.

“Over 1,000 civilians were killed when a Sudanese paramilitary group took over a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region in April, including about a third who were summarily executed, according to a report by the UN Human Rights Office on Thursday”

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Some reporting highlights limited access to the site and possible attempts to conceal evidence, citing satellite imagery and outside research.

Asharq Al-awsat - English

Coverage also records that the RSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment and has previously denied harming civilians, leaving investigators and the international community to press for independent accountability and protection for survivors.