A paramilitary power in Sudan has stormed the nation’s largest displacement camp, looting and setting fireplace to the market and several other properties, an area refugee group has mentioned.
The Zamzam camp in North Darfur has been hit by intense artillery shelling since late final 12 months, however that is the primary time the Fast Help Forces (RSF) has been accused of sending in fighters.
An eyewitness advised the BBC the state of affairs on the camp was “extraordinarily catastrophic”, and there have been many casualties.
The close by metropolis of el-Fasher, one of many centres of the civil battle that erupted in 2023, is already below siege by the RSF because it battles the military.
The navy and RSF had been allies – coming to energy collectively in a coup – however fell out over an internationally backed plan to maneuver in direction of civilian rule.
The Sudanese IDPs and Refugees Bloc mentioned Zamzam camp was invaded on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, an RSF spokesman denied its fighters had penetrated it, saying that they had seized a close-by navy base belonging to an armed group that fights alongside the Sudanese navy, after it had shelled RSF checkpoints for days.
BBC Confirm has confirmed social media footage that reveals males waving weapons triumphantly with flames behind them and saying they’re within the camp.
The insignia has been faraway from their uniforms, however the man filming the video has RSF markings.
Requested concerning the harm to the market the RSF spokesman mentioned the group had “circulated a message through which we dedicated to guard the camp residents and requested them to keep away from the hearth change areas”.
Zamzam hosts about half one million displaced individuals who had been already affected by famine.
Reviews mentioned the assault pressured 1000’s of them to flee once more.
Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which runs a hospital in Zamzam, mentioned it had acquired seven lifeless our bodies and 21 injured folks on the hospital it runs in Zamzam.
Most of them had been in a severe situation, however the hospital lacked the flexibility to look after all of them, an MSF spokesperson added.
The eyewitness the BBC spoke to mentioned the hospital not had a functioning surgical procedure.
North Darfur’s Well being Minister Ibrahim Abdullah Khater advised the BBC that the wounded weren’t in a position to attain el-Fasher for therapy as a result of the RSF was blocking the highway and stopping entry to town.
“Those struggling essentially the most are the displaced folks,” he mentioned.
The humanitarian disaster worsened late final 12 months when Zamzam got here below heavy artillery fireplace, which help organisations, together with MSF, blamed on the RSF.
A gaggle of worldwide non-governmental organisations issued an announcement in December, saying the assaults on Zamzam marked “an escalation in violence on a web site which has beforehand been spared from energetic hostilities”, though it was “in line with a sample of assaults” on different camps for displaced folks.
“This underscores the truth that there at the moment are no secure locations for folks to flee to in North Darfur,” it mentioned.
The siege of el-Fasher started final April – a 12 months into the battle.
It’s the solely metropolis nonetheless below military management in Darfur, the place the RSF has been accused of finishing up ethnic cleaning in opposition to non-Arab communities.
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[Getty Images/BBC]
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