Reports: More than 40 dead in attack on refugee camp in Sudan

The military spoke of a major attack by the militia from several sides, which was ultimately repelled. According to activists who organized self-help in the camp, some people were killed in their homes. The information cannot be independently verified.

Experts from the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University, who have been analyzing satellite images and verifying social media posts from the conflict area since the beginning of the bloody conflict in Sudan, confirmed that more than 40 vehicles can be seen on images in the northwest of the refugee camp near the provincial capital of El Fascher. A blockade of the escape routes from El Fascher can also be seen.

Previous attacks on refugee camps

The RSF, whose leader Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has been fighting for power in the African country with Sudanese de facto ruler Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan since April 2023, had already attacked and destroyed the Samsam refugee camp near El Fascher in the spring.

Several hundred thousand people were living in the camp at the time. El Fascher itself has been under siege by the RSF since May last year. According to the UN, more than twelve million people have been displaced by the conflict.

Hunger in besieged city

According to the UN, the food situation in North Darfur, the last city still under government control, is catastrophic as supply routes have been cut off. According to the World Food Program (WFP), staple foods such as sorghum millet or wheat, which are used to make traditional flatbread and porridge, cost up to 460 percent more in El Fascher than in the rest of Sudan, as no food can be delivered to the city.

According to eyewitnesses, some families are surviving on animal feed and food waste.