The Rapid Support Forces Bombard Zamzam IDP camp
December 2, 2024 | https://wp.me/p45rOG-2Mz
Eric Reeves, Co-Chair of Project Zamzam: Famine Relief and Responding to Sexual Violence
For the first time since the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began their brutal siege of El Fasher this past May, these genocidal militiamen attacked Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs). On both Sunday, December 1 and Monday, December 2 the RSF fired as many as 20 rockets and/or artillery shells into a camp with more than 1 million people struggling against famine, disease, and intolerable insecurity.
The immediate effect of these two attacks was the killing of at least 6 people (given the situation on the ground within the camp, details on social media and Sudanese news outlets vary); dozens of others were wounded. But these are only the immediate effects: civilians have begun to flee the camp in large numbers, rightly fearing more of these cowardly stand-off, imprecise attacks on the camp. The small humanitarian presence will be leaving as soon as possible.
And as important as the UN World Food Program delivery of a large convoy of food a month ago (November 7), it is impossible to imagine that there will be further such convoys following this brazen RSF assault, which might have killed the few Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff on the ground in Zamzam. With famine growing more intense and widespread daily, the absence of humanitarian relief will be catastrophic. And in fact, that was certainly the primary motive for the RSF attack: these génocidaires know full well that those within the camp are people from the various non-Arab tribal groups in Darfur. Actions such as indiscriminate attacks such as those of yesterday and today are unambiguously genocidal under the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide:
Article I The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
Article II In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
[a] Killing members of the group;
[b] Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
[c] Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
[d] Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
[e] Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Creating intolerable insecurity for humanitarian relief and forcing the flight of tens of thousands of non-Arab civilians from the only place of (minimal) protection and at least the possibility of humanitarian relief is indeed “deliberately inflicting on the [non-Arab tribal groups] conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” These actions are of a piece with the various ethnically-targeted massacres, such as those against the Masalit in the El Geneina area (the BBC offers today a chilling reprise of the horrors of this past year following a rare visit to the town).
What we must bear in mind in assessing the consequences of the RSF attack on Zamzam is that the RSF simply could not sustain their genocidal mayhem without massive assistance from the United Arab Emirates (UAE): weapons (including very advanced weapons systems), ammunition, logistics, and cash—the latter for RSF salaries, local purchase of weapons, and the means to bribe Chadian officials into allowing cross-border delivery of this matériel. Beyond this, the UAE has begun sending cargo planes with supplies to Nyala, capital of South Darfur and under RSF control.
To be sure, there are many external actors involved in Sudan’s brutal and unfathomably destructive civil war; but none has sustained the fighting ability of one side or the other as much as the UAE. The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), which have been guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, enjoys the support of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others (even including a small number of Ukrainian fighters). But there can be no question about whether the SAF is the “lesser of two evils.” And yet the UAE’s role has been denied, downplayed, or simply ignored by most of the international community, certainly including the U.S., the UK, and the European Union.
But this does not change the fact that the genocide in Darfur that began twenty years ago may well be entering its most destructive phase.
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Below are various news reports, social media posts and photographs about the two attacks on civilians in Zamzam; immediately below this are several maps and views of Zamzam. The first post is from the Sudan staff of Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), with what is currently the most substantial humanitarian presence in Zamzam:
MSF Sudan
ALERT from @MSF in #Zamzam Camp, North #Darfur
Sudan’s largest displacement site is under attack with intense shelling by RSF since yesterday evening. The attack has created a living nightmare for the displaced people in Zamzam camp, with casualties, panic and mass displacement. On December 1st, MSF teams received 8 injured people, including women and children as young as 4 years old with severe injuries such as chest trauma and fractures.
Four critically injured patients were referred to another facility this morning, just before shelling resumed to hit near the market and MSF field Hospital. The situation is beyond chaotic: patients and medical staff are leaving the camp and trying to run for their lives.
MSF’s hospital is now empty, with the last three ICU patients—still dependent on oxygen—evacuated under dangerous conditions.
“Not only have people been starving, but they are also now being bombarded and forced to flee again. We’re concerned about their safety, including our staff, and we urgently call for the protection of patients, civilians, medical teams and health facilities, in Zamzam Camp. Safe passage must also be guaranteed for those escaping this violence.”
(Michel-Olivier Lacharité, MSF’s Head of Emergency Operations)
RSF missile attack on Darfur’s Zamzam IDP camp kills and injures civilians. Sudan Tribune | December 1, 2024 (EL FASHER)
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) bombarded the Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur with a barrage of long-range missiles Sunday, resulting in deaths and injuries among the displaced and forcing thousands to flee. Zamzam camp, located southwest of El Fasher city, is one of the largest camps in North Darfur state, hosting nearly 2 million displaced people.
The number of displaced people has surged in recent months as residents of North Darfur’s capital fled there following the outbreak of fighting between the army and its allies against the RSF in the city last May.
Eyewitnesses told Sudan Tribune that “for the first time since the start of the clashes in North Darfur state, the RSF launched about 10 missiles towards Zamzam camp, killing a number of displaced people and injuring dozens.” Witnesses said the bombardment also destroyed numerous homes and forced the displaced to flee toward the towns of Shaqra and Saluma, west of El Fasher. The witnesses noted that the shells fell randomly in several locations, including the Jaflo market, the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq School shelter, the al-Sharika neighbourhood, and the former headquarters of the UNAMID mission.
The governor of the Darfur region, Mini Arko Minawi, accused the RSF of targeting Zamzam camp residents based on ethnicity. “I regret to inform the public of this sad news,” Minawi wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The displaced people of Zamzam camp are currently being subjected to artillery shelling by the RSF militia. It seems this militia has blatantly decided to target the residents of Zamzam camp on ethnic and racial grounds.” Minawi strongly condemned the attack as “criminal acts”.
The El Fasher Resistance Committees said in a statement that the camp’s residents experienced terror due to the intense bombardment that hit homes, resulting in injuries and deaths.
The camp is suffering from an unprecedented humanitarian crisis due to the lack of aid caused by the RSF’s siege and restrictions on humanitarian and commercial convoys.
International organizations announced in August that a famine had occurred in Zamzam camp, but the Sudanese government denied this, attributing the scarcity of food and medicine to the RSF siege of El Fasher.
6 dead, 12 injured as RSF continues shelling North Darfur. Radio Dabanga–Dec 2, 2024 EL FASHER
El Fasher Resistance Committees in the North Darfur capital reported that six people were killed, and twelve others injured, in artillery shelling over the weekend targeting El Fasher and the Zamzam camp for displaced people. In a statement yesterday, the El Fasher resistance committee said that at least four civilians were killed, and others injured, as a result of shelling allegedly carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In a follow-up statement today, seen by Dabanga, the committee added that the attack on Zamzam camp resulted in two deaths, 12 injuries, and significant property damage. It noted that the extent of destruction remains unclear due to disruptions to satellite internet services in the area. Darfur Governor Minni Minawi accused the RSF of shelling Zamzam camp, describing it “the sole haven for all displaced Darfuris” from across the region in a post on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday. He condemned the attack and accused unnamed foreign entities of supporting the RSF.
https://twitter.com/MSF_Sudan/status/1863567458176532708
A November report by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research revealed the construction of defensive positions around Zamzam camp, observed through satellite imagery. Recent warnings from various parties have highlighted the risk of clashes between armed groups stationed near the camp, raising fears that the conflict could spill into the camp itself. This escalation adds to the already dire humanitarian situation in Darfur, where thousands of civilians remain displaced amidst ongoing violence.
GAFFAR MOHAMMUD SAENEEN. @saeneen
#Zamzam camp under attack again. #RSF_terrorist_militias#UAE support terrorist militias. Artillery bombardment on IDPS camps is a full-fledged crime. The terrorist militia today, Monday, December 2, 2024, bombed more than 14 artillery missiles on the heads of children and women in the Zamzam camp for displaced persons. This caused casualties among civilians according to eyewitnesses, and the situation in the camp is very bad, panic and fear. The world should hold responsibility for these barbaric crimes on RSF militias and the international human rights bodies must denounce and demand the perpetrators to stop attacking IDPS camps.
VIDEO: https://x.com/saeneen/status/1863571061662429346
Drar Adam Drar @draradam1
On Sunday, December 1st, the #RSF launched rockets at the Zamzam IDP camps located on the outskirts of the besieged city of #ElFasher. Eyewitnesses reported that at 5:00 AM, while residents were asleep, they were awakened by the sounds of explosions as approximately six rockets struck the camp. The densely populated camp now houses many of #El Fasher‘s residents who have sought refuge there.
Recently, pro-RSF activists and other activists have issued statements accusing the JPA signatories -Joint Forces- of harboring military forces within the camps, actions that several activists have characterized as an invitation for the RSF to attack.
IMAGES OF THE DESTRUCTION IN ZAMZAM
Zamzam IDP camp is approximately 15 kilometers from the center of El Fasher (these photographs were taken 4 – 6 years ago; Zamzam has now grown to over 1 million IDPs)