ANNEX: Monthly Update from Team Zamzam, Late July – Late August 2025
Brief Introduction from the Coordinating Counselor of Team Zamzam
(translation by Gaffar Mohammud Saeneen, received August 31, 2025)
I must admit to being overwhelmed by the emotions accompanying this description of what is happening right now in North Darfur, in its IDP camps, and in its villages. I must bear witness to the most heinous and brutal acts committed by the terrorist militias [Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Janjaweed]; the vicious men have lost entirely the conscience of humanity. As a result, they have pushed a third of the population of North Darfur first to camps for IDPs and from there to neighbouring countries as refugees.
This is our status now in Tine. The dreams of the simple people who fled from the hell of indiscriminate shelling were again lost under the weight of another brutal violations from the flow of fire, deliberate killing on ethnic basis, forced displacement, gang rape and grave assaults on all segments of society. What happened Zamzam camp in April 2025, and what is happening right now to the rest of displacement camps in North Darfur under siege for more than a year and a half–an indescribable situation.
The recent barbaric attack on the Zamzam camp that led to the killing and displacement of more than half a million people most of them children, women, youth, women and all categories of the camp, and more than three thousand cases of missing persons are still missing, including hostages are unknown until this moment and since the beginning of April to this moment, the rest who survived went to the areas of Tawila and Korma and Golo—and more than 200,000 to camps in eastern Chad, both the Iridimi camp may host more than 120,000 and the Kari Yri camp hosts more than 120,000.
Currently, the Tiné (Chad) camp shelter about 20,000 refugees, this Tina (Sudan) shelter about 7,000 and the rest have dispersed to camps of Mile, Taloum, and other camps in eastern Chad. Despite this terrible humanitarian crisis, little has been provided by the local authorities or the international humanitarian agencies.
Security situation:
North Darfur is one of the states most affected by the current war, and its capital, El Fasher, has been under a suffocating siege since the outbreak of the war until today. The citizens and residents of the city have suffered various heinous acts by the terrorist RSF militias. Attack after attack, shelling after shelling with long-range rockets and mortar shells: there have been more than two hundred attacks, resulting in killing, displacement, and the rape of innocent, defenseless girls. El Fasher remained invisibly besieged from all directions, with no entry or exit.
Life under siege in El Fasher is either a slow death from hunger, from injury by shrapnel, and even physical liquidation in front of cameras while enduring torture and deadly beatings. Many hostages have been taken to unknown destinations to be ransomed for a large amount of money. Despite all this, El Fasher is still resisting, even after the destruction of the Zamzam camp.
Currently the RSF terrorist militias have begun to dig large trenches all round El Fasher city, using Zamzam camp as a military base to launch attacks. With so few means of exiting the city, most citizens who flee El Fasher to reach safety are murdered, including youth, men, and women. There is a clear racial discrimination in the selection of targets.
Living conditions have deteriorated beyond belief
There is a major living crisis causing death and distress among displaced persons and citizens in the state of North Darfur. The city of El Fasher and its displaced persons camps suffer from a lack of food, forcing people to eat empaz (residues of peanut or sesame seeds after oil has been extracted; it is normally used as animal feed). Since the beginning of this year, all the basic necessities, including food and medicine, have disappeared from the market. All services have deteriorated dramatically, and hunger is everywhere, as there are no longer any livelihoods to earn money. There has been a closure of all internal and external roads; all movement by citizens and civilians has been prevented by regular bombardment with missiles.
Work done during July – August 2025:
Team Zamzam carried out its humanitarian work inside the Sudanese locality of Tine, which is located next its twin sister, Tine of Chad. Work started from the shelter centre in the girls’ secondary school, which houses more than seventeen hundred displaced families. These include IDPs fleeing from Zamzam through Tawila, then Golo, then Sarif. The governor of Tiné locality visited the shelter centre during the meal distribution and praised our efforts to help these people suffering so terribly from from severe malnutrition. The team provided a substantial quantity of milk and biscuits for children suffering particularly from severe malnutrition as breakfasts, while serving morning tea for their parents.
