The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has released a report documenting the severe abuses endured by civilians during a three-day offensive by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Zamzam camp for displaced persons in April 2025. Many of the victims were from besieged El Fasher, and the report details widespread torture, abductions, and deliberate killings. UN rights chief Volker Türk highlighted that over 1,000 civilians were killed in the Zamzam attack alone, including 319 executed in their homes, markets, schools, health facilities, and mosques, describing these acts as potential war crimes.
At the time of the offensive, Zamzam camp was home to approximately 500,000 people displaced by the ongoing Sudan war, which erupted in April 2023 following clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF amid a stalled transition to civilian rule. The RSF attack, supported by allied Arab militias, involved heavy artillery shelling and ground incursions, causing significant deaths and displacement. OHCHR noted that previous relentless attacks on El Fasher and surrounding camps had prompted warnings for residents of Abu Shouk and Zamzam camps.
The report also revealed systematic sexual violence during the offensive, with at least 104 individuals—including 75 women, 26 girls, and three boys, mostly from the Zaghawa ethnic group—subjected to rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery. UN rights chief Türk emphasized that sexual violence appeared to have been deliberately employed to terrorize the community. Testimonies detailed horrific attacks, such as RSF fighters shooting civilians through windows in mosques and schools, leaving entire rooms of people dead, and survivors returning to find scattered bodies throughout the camp.
OHCHR’s findings are based on human rights monitoring, a field mission to eastern Chad in July 2025, and interviews with 155 victims and witnesses, including women, girls, and boys who had fled Zamzam camp. UN rights chief Türk has called for an impartial, thorough, and effective investigation into the attack, stressing that all individuals responsible for serious violations of international law must face justice through fair proceedings.
