Darfur governor accuses RSF of war crimes, calls for terror designation

February 16, 2025 (PORT SUDAN) – The governor of Darfur, Minni Arko Minawi, on Sunday accused the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of destroying 11 water stations and burning some 8,000 shops during a violent attack on the Zamzam camp in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state. He called on the international community to designate the RSF as a terrorist group.

The RSF launched a fierce assault on the camp on February 11th and 12th, committing widespread abuses against civilians, burning the main market, and looting vehicles and property belonging to displaced people before being repelled by the army, joint forces, and popular resistance.

“Following their attack on the Zamzam camp, the RSF destroyed 11 water stations, burned 8,000 shops and 4,000 vehicles belonging to the displaced,” said Minawi, who also leads the Sudan Liberation Movement, in a press briefing in Port Sudan.

He added that the forces also destroyed three mosques and two schools, as well as burning 37 houses.

Minawi called for urgent action to save the residents of the Zamzam camp, who are suffering from a severe food shortage, suggesting that international organizations conduct airdrops of food and supplies.

He stressed that El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, is under a strict siege after internal roads linking it with neighbouring countries from the west and northwest were cut off, accusing the RSF of preventing aid from reaching the city and looting vehicles.

Minawi explained that after failing to seize control of El-Fasher, the RSF attacked the Zamzam camp to open another front from the south.

He noted that the RSF targeted the Zamzam camp with ballistic missiles and drones, suggesting that the RSF intends to repeat the massacres it committed in the Krinding camp in the city of Geneina in West Darfur state since the same leaders who committed the crimes in West Darfur are leading the attack on the Zamzam camp and El-Fasher.

Displaced people have strong fears that if the RSF seizes control of the Zamzam camp, it will commit ethnic cleansing and genocide, as happened in the city of Geneina in West Darfur, due to the RSF’s claim that the camp’s residents belong to the joint forces that are leading bloody confrontations inside the city of El-Fasher.

Minawi called on the international community to condemn the crimes committed by the RSF and designate it as a terrorist organization.

“The RSF is a bloc of crimes and terrorism, and if there are terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Boko Haram, the RSF system surpasses them in terrorism,” he said.

He revealed the abduction of many civilians and humanitarian workers in the Zamzam camp.

Minawi spoke of the arrival of about 42,000 families from the Shagra areas to the Zamzam camp due to RSF attacks, who are in dire need of urgent assistance.

In recent weeks, the RSF has displaced large numbers of residents from villages west and east of El-Fasher to tighten the noose on the North Darfur capital, which it seeks to control as the last site of central authority in the Darfur region.