RSF accused of atrocities in fresh attack on El Fasher camp
May 22, 2024 (EL-FASHER) – Volunteers have reported that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed severe abuses against residents of an overcrowded camp for displaced persons in El Fasher, before being forced out by a joint force of armed movements and the Sudanese army.
El Fasher, the historic capital of the Darfur region, has been engulfed in bloody clashes for approximately two weeks between the army, allied armed movements, and the RSF, resulting in significant civilian casualties.
The RSF’s attempts to seize control of the city continue despite international and regional calls for de-escalation.
Abdel Hafiz Al-Ghali, a member of the Abu Shouk Camp Emergency Room, reported to Sudan Tribune that “RSF militias stormed the camp, committing brutal crimes against unarmed youth, including beatings, torture, detention, and looting.”
The RSF reportedly infiltrated the camp from the north after the sudden withdrawal of a Sudanese army post. A source in the joint force explained to Sudan Tribune that the RSF exploited the army’s withdrawal, pushing in a large number of their elements before being repelled to the strategically located Mellit gate, now a no man’s land between the warring parties.
The El Fasher Emergency Room announced that around 18 people, including women, children, and the elderly, were injured inside the Abu Shouk camp due to the violent clashes.
This is not the first time the Abu Shouk camp, home to over 400,000 displaced persons, has been targeted. Its location in the conflict zone has resulted in over 50 deaths and the destruction of numerous homes.
Meanwhile, the RSF continues its relentless artillery bombardment of populated areas in the west and south of El Fasher, causing further death and injury. Eyewitnesses confirmed to Sudan Tribune that several neighbourhoods have been affected by the shelling.
On Wednesday evening, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) heavily shelled the western area of the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people, igniting fires in the camp’s traditional mud and wood houses.
Darfur Governor Minni Minawi condemned the attack, accusing the RSF of ethnically targeted shelling aimed at terrorizing and displacing residents to facilitate looting, destruction, and arson.