El Fasher — The Rapid Support Forces described accusations that the paramilitary forces bombed Zamzam camp in El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, over the weekend by the Darfur Governor Minni Minawi as "a cheap attempt to distort the facts."
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) spokesperson, Lt Col El Fateh Gurashi, said in a statement yesterday that Minni Minawi, also the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement breakaway faction SLM-MM, is playing the role of the victim. He called the allegations that the RSF targeted Zamzam camp false and contradictory.
"Minni Minawi is denying all his crimes, including that his forces took refuge with displaced persons and used them as human shields," said Gurashi.
On Sunday, Minawi posted a tweet on X condemning "in the strongest terms the missile attack by the RSF on Zamzam camp for the displaced," a clear accusation against the RSF.
The camp, where about 1.5 million people reportedly live, "has become the only refuge for people from all over Darfur. What saddens me most is that these gangs are supported by countries that are UN members. The UN must have its say now," Minawi said.
As reported by Radio Dabanga yesterday, El Fasher Resistance Committees reported that six people were killed and twelve others injured in the artillery shelling over the weekend.
RSF statement
Gurashi said that the RSF warned early on of the Joint Forces* plan to "transform Zamzam camp into a military barracks," claiming that the faction has "established military bases among the displaced persons."
The RSF reportedly "continuously monitors all suspicious attempts" by the Joint Forces to lure civilians into their forces. "This puts the lives of thousands of displaced persons in danger. Minawi's lies will not fool the followers and observers," according to the statement.
The statement noted that the deliberate use of civilians as human shields and the transformation of their homes into military barracks constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights, and contravenes international humanitarian law, the rules of armed conflict, and the Geneva Conventions for the protection of civilians.
The RSF called on the UN and human rights organisations to take urgent and immediate action to protect the displaced, stop the humanitarian violations, and "ensure the withdrawal of the Joint Forces from the camp." The RSF said it is committed to protecting and ensuring the safety of civilians.
Military barracks
The statement made by Gurashi echoed recent accusations by pro-RSF activists that the Joint Forces are harbouring military forces within the camps, which could be seen as an invitation for the RSF to attack.
According to a report published by Yale University's Humanitarian Research on November 11, "Zamzam camp appears to expect an RSF attack following the fall of El Fasher, according to imagery analysis, open sources, and ground sources."
The Yale report observed "the creation of defensive positions in Zamzam consistent with the expectation of an attack in the near future," through satellite imagery not published due to concern for civilians' wellbeing in the camp.
"In the past RSF has used the proximity of displaced camps to Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) bases as cover to conduct mass atrocities including mass killings." These include the RSF massacres in Hasaheisa camp in Central Darfur from September to October 2023 and Ardamata neighbourhood in West Darfur in November 2023.
"Even if a further assault on Zamzam does not occur, famine due to RSF blockades has been already declared in Zamzam camp by FEWS-NET," warned the report.
Human shields
The use of 'human shields' is strictly prohibited in all circumstances of war, according to international humanitarian law.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) refers to it as the "intentional co-location of military objectives and civilians or persons hors de combat with the specific intent of trying to prevent the targeting of those military objectives." Persons hors de combat include fighters who have laid down their arms, prisoners, the sick, and wounded.
"The mere presence of armed forces or members of the enemy in populated civilian areas does not constitute the use of human shields. That is not how the concept of human shields works in international law," wrote Craig Mokhiber on September 21, in an opinion piece deconstructing Israeli rhetoric used during the country's ongoing war on Gaza.
Minawi is yet to respond to claims that the Joint Forces have set up military barracks in Zamzam camp, or to claims of the use of civilians in Darfur as human shields.
The SAF, which is allied with the Joint Forces, has been guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity since the war began on April 15, 2023, as well as the RSF. Both the RSF and the SAF deny accusations of war crimes and point accusing fingers at their rivals.
Humanitarian situation
According to Sudan researcher and analyst, Eric Reeves, "civilians have begun to flee the camp in large numbers, rightly fearing more of these cowardly stand-offs and imprecise attacks on the camp. The small humanitarian presence will be leaving as soon as possible."
In a post on X yesterday, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that the RSF attack "created a living nightmare" in Zamzam camp. "The situation is beyond chaotic: patients and medical staff are leaving the camp and trying to run for their lives. MSF's hospital is now empty, with the last three ICU patients, still dependent on oxygen, evacuated under dangerous conditions", MSF stated.
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"Actions such as indiscriminate attacks such as those of yesterday and today are unambiguously genocidal under the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide," stated Reeves yesterday, highlighting that deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part is a genocidal act.
Famine conditions are "certainly the primary motive for the RSF attack: these génocidaires know full well that those within the camp are people from the various non-Arab tribal groups in Darfur," said Reeves.
*The Darfur Joint Force was formed in June 2022, as agreed on in the 2020 Juba Peace Agreement (JPA), to protect the people in the region. The force was made up of fighters of the Sudan Liberation Movement faction headed by Darfur Governor Minni Minawi (SLM-MM), the JEM faction led by Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim (JEM-GI), and several small rebel groups that signed the JPA. These movements renounced their neutrality in November last year and are now fighting the RSF alongside the Sudanese army. Since then, Sudanese media speak about the Joint Force of Armed Struggle Movements, while the group's logo on their X and Facebook accounts says Sudanese Joint Forces (and in Arabic Sudanese Joint Forces).
