Sudan: RSF kills 40 people in attack on displacement camp
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces attacked a displacement camp outside El-Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, killing 40 people, according to AP News on August 12th.
The Emergency Response Rooms group, a local rights monitor working at the Abu Shouk displacement camp, revealed in a Facebook post that the RSF raided the famine-stricken camp on August 11th, targeting civilians inside their homes. The group also reported that at least 19 people were injured in the attack.
The Abu Shouk displacement camp hosts roughly 450,000 displaced people. Due to its proximity to the besieged city of El-Fasher – which is the final remaining urban centre in Darfur under military control – the camp has frequently been targeted by the RSF.
The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023 after a power struggle turned violent. According to United Nations figures, almost 25 million people are suffering from food insecurity in Sudan due to the war. Abu Shouk community leader Adam Essa told AFP on August 10th that every day between five and seven children die of malnutrition in the camp, according to The New Arab on August 12th.
The Resistance committees in El-Fasher, which are comprised of local citizens including human rights activists, confirmed the RSF attacks. In a Facebook post, they explained that the aftermath “reflected the extent of the horrific violations committed against innocent, defenceless people.”
On August 12th, the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University posted a satellite image which showed 40 vehicles at the displacement camp, believed to belong to the RSF militants who attacked Abu Shouk. The lab said that the vehicles were located in the northwest neighbourhoods of the camp.
The Yale lab reported that it gathered and analysed footage which allegedly showed the “RSF shooting at people crawling away from them and berating and using ethnic slurs.” The United Nations has previously accused the paramilitary group of ethnically motivated killings that amount to acts of genocide.
Further satellite imagery displayed the RSF obstructing well-known escape routes by controlling points across the El-Fasher to Kutum road to the north of the city, as well as an opening leading to Mellit in North Darfur.
The Sudanese military said that it fought and won against RSF combatants on August 11th in El-Fasher, with the battle lasting from around 6am to the afternoon.
“Our forces repelled a large-scale attack from several axes by the terrorist militia and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy in lives and equipment, as more than 16 combat vehicles were destroyed and burned and 34 vehicles, including armoured cars, were captured,” the army claimed.
The RSF said on its Telegram channel that it had advanced further into El-Fasher, seizing military equipment in the process. No further details were provided.
AP News, AFP, The New Arab, Maghrebi.org
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