MSF Sudan: New deadly attack on Zamzam displacement camp forces thousands to flee

14 April 2025 - Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders (MSF) is issuing the following flash quote from Marion Ramstein, MSF emergency field coordinator in North Darfur:

“After being starved, shelled and deprived of lifesaving assistance, people in Zamzam displacement camp, near El Fasher, are once again under attack. The RSF and allied armed groups launched a large-scale ground offensive on 11 April. There are reports of people fleeing in all directions and many casualties, although we can’t verify how many at the moment.

Back in February, we were forced to suspend all MSF activities in the camp because of escalating security issues. Repeated shelling, our ambulances shot at, and a tightened siege that prevented us from resupplying the facilities and sending staff, made it impossible for MSF to continue working in Zamzam despite the immense needs.

Communication network with Zamzam has been shut down. We don’t have news of many of the people who worked with us and decided to remain with their relatives in the camp after the suspension of our field hospital. We’re horrified by what they have to endure, and extremely worried about them and the hundreds of thousands of people already on the brink of survival in the area. We were appalled to learn that 9 staff from Relief International were killed. It was the only international humanitarian organisation still operating in Zamzam.

On 12 and 13 April, our team in Tawila saw more than 10,000 people fleeing from Zamzam and nearby areas. They arrived in an advanced state of dehydration, exhaustion and stress. They have nothing but the clothes they’re wearing, nothing to eat, nothing to drink. They sleep on the ground under the trees. Several people told us about family members left behind – lost during the escape, injured or killed.

MSF set up a health post at the entrance of Tawila city, to receive the new arrivals, give them water and provide medical care. The most critical cases are referred to the local hospital we’ve been supporting since last October. We quickly distributed what we had on hand: blankets, mosquitos nets and buckets. We also screen malnutrition among newly arrived children, so they can immediately receive therapeutic food and be enrolled in our nutritional program for adequate care.”

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Note to editors:

The two-year long war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces took a dire turn in North Darfur in May 2024 when siege and heavy fighting became everyday deadly threats for people living in El Fasher and nearby displacement camps like Zamzam.

Since then, violence and starvation have escalated, and the nutritional situation spiralled out of control as demonstrated by several MSF reports. While famine was declared in Zamzam camp last August by the IPC Famine review committee, the massive humanitarian response needed to curb it never materialised. As the already desperate situation reaches a new critical threshold, we urge the warring parties and all stakeholders with influence to spare civilians and lift the siege, and all obstacles depriving the people in North Darfur from lifesaving humanitarian aid.