“Armed kid, my luggage on my head, I escaped from the Sudan’s security camp”
Mother of two Fathiya Mohammed said she was robbed when she fled to Tawila town [BBC]
Last week, 700,000 residents of the Zamzam camp in Sudan were already one of the poorest people in the world when they were attacked by paramilitary fighters in the world.
Two years ago, the conflict in Darfur region occurred in two decades after the civil war broke out, meaning they have fled their homes in search of security and shelter.
They gradually began to rebuild their lives in Zamzam, the largest internally displaced person in Sudan.
But any sense of stability is subverted when the camp is destroyed by intense ground and air attacks.
Zamzam was attacked by the Paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), which has been trying to capture nearby El-Fashers from its rival Sudanese army.
RSF denied reports of Zamzam’s atrocities but confirmed it had taken over the camp.
North Dafur Health Minister Ibrahim Khater told the BBC’s News Day Day that the result of the attack was that Zazam was “completely destroyed”.
“No one is there,” he said.
Among the thousands who fled Zamzam were Fathiya Mohammed, 28, who stayed in the camp for three months.
She walked barefoot for four days before reaching Tavela town.
“I held one child on my back and the other in my arms, the luggage rack,” she told the BBC.
Zamzam residents embark on another test journey [BBC]
In the chaos of the attack, she lost her husband, but still didn’t know where he was.
Ms. Mohammed said the family was attacked by thieves on their journey to Tavila, who endured exhaustion, hunger and thirst.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said thousands of people fled from Zamzam to Tavilla since the attack.
Saadiya Adam left the camp with his two- and five-year-old children after the temporary home was destroyed.
“They burned my house in Zamzam and burned my sheep,” said Ms. Adam, who lived in Zamzam for two months.
“Everything I have was burned. I had nothing left.”
Images taken by a freelancer work on the BBC and show thousands of internally displaced people walking, trucks and donkey carts entering Tawila.
Issa Abdullah is through the overwhelmed Tavela Hospital [BBC]
These arrivals face overwhelming facilities – MSF said more than 20,000 people were treated in a hospital run by Tawila in two days.
“We’re seeing a lot of people getting hurt by bullets, and that’s becoming routine,” said nurse Tiphaine Salmon.
“Yesterday was a seven-month-old baby who just stared at her and stopped crying – her bullets were injured on her chin and shoulders.”
A patient at Tavira Hospital described being attacked in Zamzam.
“We are six of us and we met RSF,” Issa Abdullah said.
“Three cars opened fire at us. They hit me in the head. A bullet was close to my mouth. I’m OK now, but there are other situations.”
Satellite images collected Wednesday show RSF trucks around the camp and the houses rising in the flames [Maxar Technologies]
Hussein Khamis was shot dead in the leg during the attack.
“After the injury, no one can take me.”
Despite his injuries, Mr. Hamis managed to reach a nearby hospital, but he “no one fled, everyone fled”.
Eventually, he managed to upgrade to Tawila. Like Ms. Mohammed, he said he was robbed all the way.
The RSF has not commented on these specific allegations.
Doctors Without Borders said more than 170 people have been injured in Tawila since the attack, 40% of whom are women and girls.
“People told us that many injured and vulnerable people were unable to go to Tawila and be left behind. Everyone we talked to said they lost at least one family member in the attack.”
Founded in 2004, Zamzam aims to accommodate internally displaced persons who flee racial violence in Darfur.
Its seizures have strategic implications for the RSF for losing control of the Sudanese capital Khartoum last month.
The RSF still controls much of the western region, including most Darfur.
This week, the group announced plans to establish a parallel government in the Sudan area to exacerbate the fears in Sudan, which could eventually be divided into two parts.
Safe, at least for now, Ms. Mohammed reflects the huge losses caused by the war to those like her.
“We want the war to stop,” she said. “Peace is the most important thing.”
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