PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s paramilitaries killed 25 civilians in a famine-hit camp in Darfur on Friday, activists said, as the battle for the last army-held state capital in the vast western region intensifies.

Shelling and intense gunfire by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) hit “Zamzam displacement camp from both the southern and eastern directions”, said the local resistance committee, a volunteer aid group in the besieged North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher.

Zamzam and other densely populated camps for the displaced around El-Fasher have suffered heavily during nearly two years of fighting between the regular army and the RSF.

El-Fasher is the only state capital still under army control in Darfur, making it a strategic prize in the RSF’s push for full control of the west. Witnesses described seeing RSF combat vehicles entering the Zamzam camp under cover of heavy gunfire.

‘Destructive path’

The attack on Zamzam comes a day after RSF shelling of nearby Abu Shouk camp killed at least 15 people, rescuers said. Three El-Fasher residents said that the RSF attacked the city on Friday from the east, south and west, after bombarding it with heavy artillery and rockets.

Drones were also seen bombing central El-Fasher, witnesses said. The paramilitaries have stepped up efforts to complete their conquest of Darfur since losing control of the capital Khartoum last month.

Zamzam was the first part of Sudan where a UN-backed assessment declared famine last year. In December, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said famine had since spread to two nearby camps — Abu Shouk and Al Salam — as well as to parts of the country’s south.

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, erupted in April 2023. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million.

While the army recaptured the capital Khartoum late last month, Africa’s third-largest country remains divided. The army holds sway in the east and north, while the RSF controls most of Darfur and parts of the south.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Friday of deeply catastrophic consequences for civilians as the conflict approaches its third year.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2025