International aid groups have condemned a deadly attack by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces on the Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur, where at least 112 people were killed, according to the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa.
In a statement Saturday, the group said RSF fighters torched a communal kitchen Friday and killed volunteer workers there, including a pregnant woman.
The Sudan INGO Forum, a coalition of more than 70 humanitarian agencies, reported that more than 20 children were among the dead.
“Civilians are being starved, slaughtered and prevented from fleeing. Aid workers and local volunteer responders are being hunted,” the alliance said in a statement Saturday.
“This is a blatant, repeated violation of international humanitarian law,” it added.
At least 500,000 refugees live in the Zamzam camp, though some estimates put the number as high as 1 million.
The nearby capital of North Darfur, El Fasher, has been besieged by the RSF for nearly a year in its civil war against the Sudanese army.
The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said shelling and airstrikes have killed or injured more than 140 children in El Fasher in the past three months alone.
A bloody power struggle has raged in Sudan for nearly two years between de facto ruler Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who heads the RSF.
According to U.N. figures, the conflict has driven more than 12.5 million people from their homes.
