The international spotlight on Sudan’s deepening humanitarian disaster intensified today as Amnesty International published a major new report, formally accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing war crimes during a multi-day assault on the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Darfur.
The report provides harrowing details of the April 2025 attack, which led to the displacement of an estimated 400,000 people and lays bare the RSF’s systematic targeting of civilians, making the news highly current and urgent.
The new report, titled “A Refuge Destroyed: RSF Violations in Darfur’s Zamzam Camp,” details atrocities committed by the RSF between April 11 and 13, 2025.
Amnesty documented that RSF fighters deliberately shot and killed at least 47 civilians who were hiding in homes, clinics, and even seeking refuge in a mosque. Eyewitnesses recounted seeing RSF fighters gun down an 80-year-old man and his nephew inside their compound.
The RSF is accused of pillage and destruction of critical civilian infrastructure, including the burning and demolition of mosques, schools, health clinics, the market, and vast residential areas.
The report confirms that RSF fighters took hostages for ransom and subjected women and girls to sexual violence and assault.
Amnesty Secretary-General, Agnès Callamard, unequivocally stated that the RSF’s actions—including the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas, “must be investigated as war crimes” and were part of a sustained campaign against civilian camps.
The paramilitary group has not officially responded to the new Amnesty report, though following the attack, the RSF claimed the camp was used as a military base by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their allied militias.
The report renews pressure on international actors, particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which Amnesty explicitly accuses of “actively fuel[ing] the armed conflict by supporting the RSF with weapons,” a claim the UAE has long denied.
Amnesty is urgently calling on the African Union, the UN Security Council, and other key international bodies to expand the existing arms embargo on Darfur to the entire country to stem the flow of weapons that enable such atrocities.
The report serves as a devastating confirmation that the conflict in Sudan, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced over 14 million people, continues to spiral into a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe, with civilians bearing the full brunt of the violence.
