RSF atrocities in Sudan: 500 killed in Zamzam camp

The conflict in North Darfur, Sudan, has intensified. On April 11, 2025, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked the Zamzam displaced camp, burning down huts, shops, killing a doctor and shooting at fleeing civilians. The attack killed at least 500 people and forcibly displaced millions.

Following the attack, displaced children took refuge in a school in Omdurman. The children were seen in the shelter after being evacuated by the Sudanese army from an area under RSF control on March 23, 2025.

"Zamzam was a military zone, so we should have evacuated the civilians. We didn't want them to get caught in the crossfire," RSF adviser Ali Musabel told Al Jazeera. But Sudanese human rights lawyer Rifat Makawi says it is copying the Israeli model—where civilians are used as ‘human shields’ to justify attacks on hospitals and schools in Gaza.

For years, Israel has used international human rights and the law of war (IHL) to justify the killing of civilians. In Sudan, RSF is adopting the same tactic—depriving civilians of legal protection by branding them as combatants or instruments of war.

World-class human rights observers say this is no coincidence, but a deliberate practice. “The fact that RSF’s claims in Sudan are similar to Israel’s claims in Gaza reveals the emergence of a template for committing genocide,” notes Luigi Daniele, senior lecturer in IHL at Nottingham Law School.

A satellite image shows burning buildings in Zamzam camp, which was built after the RSF took over, on April 16, 2025. The United Nations has also accused both sides in Sudan's war of serious crimes.

Human rights groups and international observers have warned that the escalation of the conflict in Sudan and the attacks on civilians are clear violations of international human rights law and humanitarian principles. The situation has escalated into a major humanitarian crisis in the country, with 30 million people relying on emergency aid.