Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have taken full control of the Zamzam camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in North Darfur, perpetrating a campaign of atrocities including abductions, rape, and killings, a women rights group said on Monday..
The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA Network) said in a statement dated May 26 that the RSF launched an attack on the camp on April 12 and has since imposed a complete communications blackout and severe restrictions on movement, trapping civilians.
“Safety and humanitarian conditions have significantly deteriorated,” SIHA said, adding that those inside Zamzam are “completely cut off from the outside world.”
SIHA said it was verifying reports of 64 abductions and enforced disappearances of women and girls. It cited testimony that on April 13, RSF soldiers took 11 women from Zamzam and later demanded a ransom of 15 million Sudanese pounds (approximately $8,000) from their families.
The group reported it had documented and verified 14 rape cases out of 27 received. These included a 22-year-old woman allegedly gang-raped by RSF soldiers on April 23, and a 19-year-old girl reportedly raped in front of her family the following day. A 12-year-old girl was among those raped after being accused of having family in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), SIHA said.
The SIHA report detailed further alleged atrocities. On May 19, RSF soldiers killed three women and abducted seven others after the group was tortured and raped on the road between Zamzam and El Fasher, the rights group said.
The regional women’s group also cited an eyewitness report from April 11 alleging that RSF soldiers burned six women alive inside their house in Zamzam.
In a separate incident on May 16, a woman, Haboba Hasania, was run over and killed by an RSF vehicle while attempting to prevent her daughter’s abduction during an ambush on fleeing civilians, the report stated. Approximately 30 other women and girls in that group were reportedly beaten and sexually harassed by the soldiers.
SIHA also reported an alleged sexual assault on three men by RSF soldiers, who reportedly amputated their genitalia, leading to two deaths.
According to testimonies received by SIHA, RSF fighters gathered camp inhabitants, dividing them by age, gender, and ethnicity. Zaghawa individuals accused of links to SAF-allied forces were severely beaten, the report said, while some women were forced to herd livestock to Kabkabiya or cook for RSF soldiers.
“The RSF’s systematic campaign of violence and destruction, specifically levelled at women and girls, remains to this day,” SIHA stated, adding that reported incidents were likely only a fraction of the crimes committed.
The rights group urged the United Nations, African Union, and the international community to establish an urgent peacekeeping mission in Darfur. It also called for safe humanitarian corridors and for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to accelerate investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.