A rescue group says civilians have been ‘killed either by stray bullets or direct executions’ at the camp.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has attacked a famine-hit camp for displaced people in Darfur, killing at least 40 civilians, according to first responders.

The RSF stormed Abu Shouk camp on Monday, opening fire inside homes and on the streets, said the local Emergency Response Room,one of hundreds of volunteer networks providing front-line aid since war erupted between the Sudanese army and the RSF in April 2023.

It said more than 40 civilians were killed and at least 19 were wounded in the attack.

The rescue group said civilians were “killed either by stray bullets or direct executions” at the camp, located on the northern outskirts of el-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur still held by the Sudanese army.

The RSF has laid siege to el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, since May 2024.

The local resistance committee, a pro-democracy volunteer group, confirmed the toll of at least 40 killed in Monday’s attack.

The group condemned what it called “horrific violations being committed against innocent, unarmed people”.

In recent months, el-Fasher and nearby displacement camps have come under renewed RSF attacks after the paramilitary was pushed out of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, by the army in March.

A major RSF offensive in April on the Zamzam camp displaced tens of thousands of people, and many sought shelter in el-Fasher.

War and famine

The war between Sudan’s army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.

The conflict has in effect split the country in two with the army holding the north, east and centre while the RSF dominates nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.

Last year, famine was declared in three camps around el-Fasher, including Abu Shouk, and the UN warned it could spread to the city by May.

But data shortages have prevented an official declaration.

At a community kitchen in el-Fasher, organisers said some of the children and women they serve arrive there with swollen bellies, sunken eyes and signs of acute malnutrition, according to the AFP news agency.

Meanwhile, in North Kordofan state in central Sudan, the RSF has been accused of displacing more than 3,000 families from 66 villages due to fighting since early August, according to the Sudan Doctors Network.

The group also said the RSF looted their properties and stole their money and livestock.

Those displaced ended up arriving in Khartoum and White Nile provinces last week.

The recent attacks on the villages in the province killed 18 civilians and injured dozens, according to the latest update by the UN.