Sudan’s Zamzam camp in Darfur comes under attack as it faces starvation: NPR

Lagos, Nigeria – Sudan’s largest refugee camp hosting at least 500,000 people, thousands of them starving – has been under near daily shelling for two weeks. More than 80 people were killed and nearly 400 injured in the Zamzam camp in Sudan’s besieged western region of Darfur, local media said.

Refugees living in the camps and aid groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) say the constant shelling is aimed at the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese militia that has been in a brutal civil war with the Sudanese military since April 2023. He claims that it is because of.

The siege has caused a new humanitarian catastrophe, with the attack blocking the already very limited amount of aid to Zamzam and leaving the few medical facilities overwhelmed. This comes amid mounting evidence from local and international human rights groups of ethnic cleansing carried out by the RSF in Darfur, marking an alarming turning point in a region where violence and brutality against civilians is endemic.

Overshadowed by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, some estimates say as many as 150,000 people have died in Sudan’s 20-month conflict. This caused the world’s worst displacement crisis, affecting one in five pre-war populations. The United States is among the countries that have accused the RSF of ethnic cleansing, and has also accused Sudan’s military of war crimes. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement last December that “Since fighting broke out on April 15, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have unleashed horrific violence, death, and destruction across Sudan.” said. Civilians bear the brunt of this unnecessary conflict. ”

Meanwhile, Sudan is facing unprecedented levels of hunger, with the United Nations saying 26 million people are at “crisis level”. Zamzam camp is the only place in the world where famine has been officially declared.

On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Sudan. Peace negotiations have so far failed. At Thursday’s UN Security Council meeting, Sudan’s representative accused the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF, a charge the UAE strongly denies.

Only two international aid organizations are active in Zamzam

Until last year, 120,000 people lived in Zamzam camp. Since then, the population has soared to at least 500,000 people and could reach as many as 1 million, aid group Relief International has said. Most of those killed and injured in the camp were victims of shelling, according to aid groups and experts investigating the attack. Doctors have been treating a 4-year-old child with gunshot wounds and trauma.

“Patients and medical staff have left the camp and are fleeing for their lives,” MSF said in a statement earlier this month. “Not only are people starving, but they are also being bombed.”

MSF and International Relief are the only two international aid organizations still permanently present at the camp.

“We can’t handle complex trauma cases that require surgery,” says Melanie Kempster, director of global health and nutrition at Relief International. She said some serious cases were left untreated.

“We have to refer these cases to the only functioning hospital in El Fasher,” a besieged city 19 miles away, she said. “But it is really dangerous to do so. The opposing parties have taken up positions near the entrance to the camp and the only exit road to its hospital.”

Earlier this year, a Relief International driver died on the way to the hospital.

RSF denies that attacks on humanitarian camps amount to a war crime. However, RSF agents justified their involvement in the conflict around Zamzam, claiming that the fighting was against armed groups aligned with the Sudanese army.

Footage posted by local Sudanese media earlier this month and seen by NPR showed displaced people reacting in agony after the attack on the camp, where cars and shacks were destroyed.

“This is not a military camp,” one shouted. “This is not a camp for an armed movement. This is a home for displaced people. This is innocent blood.”

The current attack has further exacerbated the despair of Zamzam residents.

Zamzam camp was established 20 years ago to shelter tens of thousands of people displaced by the genocide in Darfur. In Darfur, mainly Arab militias, supported by the Sudanese government, have launched attacks against rebel groups in the region. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 200,000 people, mostly Darfuri civilians, were killed between 2003 and 2005. The dominant militia responsible for the atrocities was the Janjaweed Arab militia, which later evolved into the RSF.

Since war broke out last year, the RSF has swept through Darfur, controlling almost all of it. It is accused of widespread atrocities, including sexual violence against local ethnic groups, mirroring the violence seen during the genocide.

Over the decades, the site has evolved into a city, permanently hosting refugees from the Darfur genocide and those displaced by recent violence. Tents and shelters have been gradually replaced by permanent buildings such as housing, hospitals, and schools.

However, the current war has worsened the humanitarian situation in the camp, leading to official confirmation of starvation in August. Aid groups say tens of thousands of people are suffering from hunger and malnutrition, and children are dying almost every day. Many people have been forced to eat peanut shells and animal feed known as “abaz”, which is mainly made of grass.

Shelling in recent weeks has added to the sense of hopelessness. Doctors working for MSF and Relief International spoke to NPR from the camp and El Fasher on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from RSF. A doctor in Zamzam said the surge in injuries was overwhelming what little medical help he could provide.

“We lack basic equipment, even iodine,” he said.

Another doctor described the current situation as a “disaster.”

“We want the world to hear us, to respond quickly and to help us get out of this crisis,” the doctor said.

People trying to escape from areas around Zamzam are often trapped

Last week, the same doctor fled from shelling in Zamzam to El Fasher, the last major city in the Darfur region not under RSF control. Approximately 1 million people live here. The attack on Zamzam is an extension of the long siege of El Fasher, with most of the RSF fighters around it being blockaded for months. The city’s only functioning hospital has been repeatedly attacked, with at least nine people recently killed in a drone attack blamed on the RSF.

Attacks on the region have caused thousands of people to flee both El Fasher and Zamzam, attempting the dangerous journey on foot to reach safer towns more than 60 miles away, risking being drawn into the conflict. However, most RSF troops are effectively trapped, as they are stationed on most major roads.

“This is a ‘kill box,'” said Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale University’s Humanitarian Institute, which has been monitoring the conflict. He said Zamzam’s people are being forced to head south to RSF positions or flee to desert-like conditions where they risk starvation.

“You can see people camping under trees on the side of the road from space,” he said, referring to satellite images his group analyzed. “They get out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

Most of those evacuated are already suffering extreme physical hardship, he said.

“You have to think visually about what these people look like,” Raymond said. “They have weakened immune systems. Many of these children are starting to get to a point where their bodies are starting to absorb their own muscles. They’re in a situation where even a skin infection can be fatal. .”

There is new evidence that the UAE may be supporting the RSF

Evidence of RSF attacks continues to emerge, including the influence of foreign powers suspected of fomenting the war, including Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Despite the United Nations Security Council’s arms embargo on Sudan remaining in place until September 2025, arms continue to flow into Sudan.

But criticism has focused particularly on the UAE’s alleged role. In a report released last week by Yale University’s Humanitarian Institute, researchers found that Zamzam camp and El Fasher were under fire from artillery placed 35 kilometers northeast of Zamzam. Researchers say the actual weapon used is an AH4 155mm howitzer made by a Chinese weapons manufacturer. The United Arab Emirates is the only country confirmed to have purchased the weapon, according to U.S. Department of Defense records reviewed by Yale HRL.

“This is one of the most important clues yet of possible direct support from the UAE to the RSF,” Raymond said. “No one outside of China is known to have this.”

Brett McGuirk, the White House’s Middle East and North Africa coordinator, told Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, this week that the UAE has told the Biden administration that “we are currently in the process of relocating.” He said that he had been notified that he had not done so. “We have not and will not provide any weapons to the RSF.”