The Goal Is Mass Genocide Terror and Famine in Sudan Camps Under Militia Attack

Terror and Famine in Sudan Camps Under Militia Attack

- Kaamil Ahmed

Once they had massed on the perimeter of Sudan's Zamzam camp, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began the onslaught - shelling, firing from anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks and storming into the camp chanting racial slurs as they fired on their victims.

An estimated 700,000 people had sought refuge in Zamzam, Sudan's largest displacement camp, but last weekend they were forced to seek cover and plot the best escape route. Most had fled these fighters before.

Those who were able gathered any belongings that could be carried on their backs or flung onto donkeys and camels and began the long walk to El Fasher city, nine miles away, or Tawila displacement camp, 37 miles west of Zamzam.

Mohamed (not his real name), a community organiser, told the Guardian he tried to sneak past the fighters to reach the Relief International medical centre, which was hit during the early stages of the attack on 11 April when nine staff were killed, including one of his friends. "They were barbaric, inhumane. They were chanting as they killed people in their homes. It is behaviour you wouldn't even find in the wilderness," he said, adding that the fighters, who claimed to be seeking government fighters hiding in the camp, had attacked people in their homes or in their cars as they tried to escape.

"I ran into an RSF vehicle - the fighters were shouting racist slurs and started firing at us. I was shot in my right leg, then someone who was hiding in one of the homes dragged me inside."

Rescuers had only salt and leaves to treat and dress his wound. They spent the next two days in hiding.