‘They were chanting as they killed people in their homes’: survivors describe attack on Sudan’s Zamzam camp

Once they had massed connected the perimeter of Sudan’s Zamzam camp, the Rapid Support Forces began the onslaught – shelling, firing from anti-aircraft guns mounted connected pickup trucks and storming into the campy chanting radical slurs arsenic they fired connected their victims.

An estimated 700,000 radical had sought refuge successful Zamzam, Sudan’s largest displacement camp, but past play they were forced to question screen and crippled the champion flight route. Most had fled these fighters before.

Those who were capable gathered immoderate belongings that could beryllium carried connected their backs oregon flung connected to donkeys and camels and rushed to statesman the agelong locomotion to El Fasher city, 14km (8.7 miles) away, oregon Tawila displacement camp, 60km westbound of Zamzam.

Mohamed*, a assemblage organiser, tells the Guardian helium tried to sneak past the fighters to scope the aesculapian centre staffed by the NGO Relief International that was deed during the aboriginal stages of the onslaught connected 11 April, erstwhile 9 unit were killed, including 1 of his friends.

“They were barbaric, inhumane. They were chanting arsenic they killed radical successful their homes. It is behaviour you wouldn’t adjacent find successful the wilderness,” helium says, adding that the fighters, who claimed to beryllium seeking Sudanese authorities fighters hiding successful the camp, attacked radical successful their homes oregon successful their cars arsenic they tried to escape.

“I ran into an RSF conveyance – the fighters were shouting racist slurs and started firing astatine us. I was changeable successful my close leg, past idiosyncratic who was hiding successful 1 of the homes dragged maine inside.”

Rescuers had lone brackish and leaves to dainty and formal his wound. They spent the adjacent 2 days successful hiding.

The conflict for Zamzam raged for 3 days. The RSF and its allied militias claimed they had seized power of it connected 13 April. At slightest 400 civilians, including women and children, had been killed successful Zamzam and adjacent Um Kadada by 15 April, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, though it says it has not had entree to measure the existent standard of the damage.

For astir radical this is not the archetypal clip they person escaped from the RSF. The campy grew successful size during the existent civilian war, arsenic radical fled different parts of Darfur taken by the RSF, a postulation of militia who travel the erstwhile warlord Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known arsenic Hemedti. But the campy has existed since the 2000s, earlier the war. The longer-term inhabitants fled akin unit by the RSF successful its anterior signifier arsenic the Janjaweed militias.

Another Zamzam nonmigratory says helium was successful his location erstwhile the shelling started, causing a occurrence to interruption retired astir him. The neighbours banded together, gathered the aged radical and ran towards the northbound for the roadworthy to El Fasher.

“The shelling was intense. People started moving everywhere, to the south, east, west. The shelling was truthful aggravated and they were utilizing each types of dense weaponry, we couldn’t adjacent talk to each other. We walked by ft – it was tiring and difficult. We would instrumentality breaks to beryllium and sometimes radical conscionable collapsed connected the ground.”

The UN estimates 400,000 radical had fled Zamzam by Tuesday, heading either to El Fasher oregon to Tawila.

Medecins Sans Frontieres’ task coordinator for North Darfur, Marion Ramstein, says 10,000 radical arrived successful Tawila successful the archetypal 48 hours of the onslaught connected Zamzam, astir successful an precocious authorities of dehydration and exhaustion.

“Some children were virtually dying of thirst upon arrival, aft travelling for 2 days nether a burning sun, without a azygous driblet of h2o to drink,” says Ramstein, who says the hospitals are truthful overcrowded that children are having to stock beds.

A displaced idiosyncratic already surviving successful Tawila says helium saw thousands of families get successful Tawila hungry, thirsty and often with injuries aft the arduous journey.

“Many of them came connected foot. Some of those who had cars were stopped connected the mode and past looted [by fighters] and galore of the younker were disappeared oregon killed,” helium says. “The families present are retired successful the unfastened without water.”

The concern is akin successful El Fasher, wherever the antheral who fled his burning location successful Zamzam says astir of the injured are inactive waiting to beryllium treated oregon person been fixed crude archetypal aid, specified arsenic utilizing occurrence to cauterise their wounds.

A doc successful El Fasher says determination is an urgent request for shelter, nutrient and h2o but the area’s quality to supply them is constricted by a twelvemonth of siege connected El Fasher and its vicinity – the past large metropolis successful Darfur that the RSF does not yet power aft much than 2 years of war.

“Even present I tin perceive the rumbling of dense artillery nearby. The RSF is ever bombing determination successful El Fasher, 24 hours,” helium says. “RSF has looted each the outskirts of El Fasher, sidesplitting galore people, burned a batch of villages, looted their property.”

The siege has meant that prices successful the nutrient markets are high. According to a database of marketplace prices distributed by the North Darfur governorate, aft the onslaught connected Zamzam the terms of a kilogram of wheat roseate 3,000 Sudanese pounds (£3.80) to 15,000 erstwhile bought with currency but was arsenic precocious arsenic 22,000 erstwhile bought utilizing mobile banking, which astir radical trust on. Famine had already taken clasp successful Zamzam camp, and the latest warring has added to the crisis.

While astatine slightest fractional of Zamzam’s colonisation has fled, a important fig are incapable to leave. Mohamed and different campaigners impeach the RSF of holding them hostage and utilizing them arsenic quality shields to forestall the Sudanese service from launching a counterattack.

He says fighters are stopping radical connected the roads and choosing who they let to walk based connected tegument colour.

“The main extremity is simply a full-scale wide genocide and to displace immoderate people not associated with the RSF,” says Mohamed.

A communications blackout has meant that details of the aftermath of the onslaught and however galore radical person been killed and injured cannot beryllium established but accusation is dilatory trickling to families extracurricular Darfur.

Related: Atrocities equine daily. Promised assistance does not arrive. Why has the westbound turned its backmost connected Sudan?

Altahir Hashim, a UK-based Darfuri campaigner, says that lone aft respective days did helium observe that his parent and siblings were capable to flight but that respective of his cousins had died. Many of his friends besides mislaid household members.

According to the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which uses outer imagery to show unit successful Sudan, fires continued to dispersed aft the RSF took power of Zamzam, with 1.7 sq km of the campy – equivalent to 24 shot pitches – destroyed by occurrence betwixt 11 and 16 April.

“Even until present the radical who are inactive successful the campy are being killed and raped. Even those who tried to flight to the west, they brought immoderate of the small girls back, the aged and they are sidesplitting them. Until present determination are galore wounded who person not been treated,” helium says.

“The radical [who escaped] are genuinely exhausted due to the fact that what happened successful Zamzam is simply a superior tragedy. They’re indescribable, things that person not happened successful humanity before.”

* Name has been changed