At least 319 people 'summarily executed' by Sudan's RSF in April, UN group says
Investigators spoke to over 150 refugees now in Chad about attacks by paramilitary group
Over 1,000 civilians were killed when a Sudanese paramilitary group took over a famine-stricken displacement camp in the Darfur region in April, including about a third who were "summarily executed," according to a report by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) on Thursday.
For months before the April 11-13 assault, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) blocked entry of food and supplies to the Zamzam camp in Sudan's western region of Darfur housing nearly half a million people displaced by civil war, according to the UN report.
During the takeover, the RSF directed attacks against civilians, the UN report said, and survivors reported widespread killings, rape, torture and abductions, with at least 319 people executed in the camp or as they tried to flee.
"Such deliberate killing of civilians … may constitute the war crime of murder," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a statement accompanying the 18-page report.
The findings are based on interviews conducted in July 2025 with 155 survivors and witnesses who fled to Chad.
'I will never return'
The Zamzam camp about 15 kilometres south of the city of al Fasher was originally established for displaced persons months after by the war in Darfur that began in 2003. Violence in that city in 2023 caused the camp to heave again, mostly from displaced persons belonging to African tribes.
The high commissioner warned of dire conditions at the camp late last year, and RSF patrols prevented the entry of food, medical supplies and fuel to the camp, causing severe shortages by January, the report found.
"My family and I had no choice but to eat peanut shells, just like many other families in the camp, because all food items such as sugar, salt, and oil had run out," a 30-year-old woman told interviewers.
The attacks that began on April 11 involved artillery fire, drone strikes and ground offensive involving four-wheel drive vehicles, the report said.
One of them testified that eight people hiding in a room in the camp were killed by RSF fighters who inserted rifles through a window and shot at the group, the report said.
Much of the violence was ethnically motivated, and in addition to the killings, the OHCHR documented 66 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, involving at least 104 victims. All but three of the reported victims were female, including over two-dozen who weren't adults.
"I will never return to Zamzam even if the war will stop. I feel safer here [in Chad]," said a 27-year-old woman who reported being the victim of sexual violence.
The RSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The group has previously denied harming civilians and said that it will hold its forces to account for any violations.
The April attack was a precursor to the attack on El Fasher to the north in late October, where the RSF is accused of summarily executing and kidnapping thousands of people. Most of those thought to have lived in the city are unaccounted for.
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