4/13/2025

'Death Is Everywhere': Sudan Camp Residents Shelter From Attacks



Devastating attacks on a camp hosting hundreds of thousands of people who had fled Sudan's civil war have continued for a third day, residents have told the BBC.

One person in the Zamzam camp described the situation as "extremely catastrophic" while another said things were "dire".

More than 100 civilians, among them at least 20 children and a medical team, have been killed in a series of assaults that began late last week in Sudan's western Darfur region, the UN has said.

The attacks – on the city of el-Fasher and two nearby camps – have been blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). It has said reports of atrocities were fabricated.

The camps, Zamzam and Abu Shouk, provide temporary homes to more than 700,000 people, many of whom are facing famine-like conditions.

News of the attacks comes on the eve of the second anniversary of the start of the civil war between the RSF and the army.

Contacting the BBC on Sunday morning, one Zamzam resident who works at a community kitchen providing food for those in the camp, said "a large number of young people" had been killed.

"Those who were working in the community kitchen have been killed, and the doctors who were part of the initiative to reopen the hospital were also killed," Mustafa, 34, said in a WhatsApp audio message.

"My uncle and my cousin were killed. People are wounded, and there is no medicine or hospital to save them - they are dying from bleeding.

"The shelling is still ongoing, and we are expecting more attacks in the morning."

He added that all routes out of the camp were closed and it was "surrounded from all four directions".

Another resident, Wasir, said that "nothing [was] left in Zamzam".

"A large number of civilians have fled, and we are still trying to leave, but we haven't succeeded, all the roads are blocked, and we have children with us.

"Death is everywhere. As I speak to you now from inside the trench, there is shelling happening."

- Author: Mohamed Zakaria & Damian Zane, BBC

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