The Rapid Support Forces militia, which has been fighting against government troops in Sudan for two and a half years, killed more than 1,000 civilians during a three-day offensive in April, according to a UN report published on Thursday.

The UN Human Rights Office said in the report that it “documented the killing of at least 1,013 civilians in the context of the RSF offensive on Zamzam IDP camp” between April 11 and 13.

The OHCHR said that more than 400,000 residents of the camp were also displaced during the three-day offensive.

The RSF attacked and destroyed the Zamzam refugee camp near El Fasher in April. At that time, several hundred thousand people lived in what was the largest refugee camp in North Darfur.

The RSF launched attacks on military and civilian targets in April 2023 after resisting integration into the army. The brutal power struggle that emerged has created what the UN describes as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

According to UN figures, fighting has displaced around 12 million people in the country, while every second resident is threatened by hunger.

At the same time, the dire situation in Sudan is receiving significantly less international attention than, for example, the situation in the Gaza Strip.

The OHCHR report lists killings, rapes, and other forms of sexual violence, torture, and abductions during the three-day offensive on the camp.

It described “a consistent pattern of serious violations of international humanitarian law and gross abuses of international human rights law”.

According to the report, in the months leading up to the attack, the RSF blocked the import of food, water, fuel, and other goods into the camp and attacked those who tried to bring in supplies.

To survive, many families had to feed their children animal feed, such as peanut shells.

The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, in an urgent appeal, said, “The world must not sit back and watch as such cruelty becomes entrenched as the order of the day in Sudan.” 

(dpa/NAN)