Some 400,000 people have been forced to flee the largest displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.

"Between 60,000 and 80,000 households were displaced from Zamzam [Internally displaced persons] camp due to heightened insecurity," the IOM said in a statement.

The RSF attack on the camp left hundreds dead or wounded, the government and aid groups said.

The paramilitary group has stepped up attacks in the western region of Darfur as it attempts to take the last state capital, el-Fasher, which is not yet under its control.

The United Nations said on Monday that more than 300 people, including 10 humanitarian workers, had been killed in fighting on Friday and Saturday around the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps close to el-Fashir.

International community meets for Sudan conference

The recent uptick in violence in Darfur comes ahead of an international aid conference in London on Tuesday. Representatives from the UK, Germany, France, the EU, and the African Union, among others, are expected to take part. 

Ahead of the conference, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock pledged €125 million ($142 million) in humanitarian aid to allow international and local aid organizations to deliver urgently needed food and medicine to people in need. 

The minister said in a statement that in Sudan, "No one is safe, neither refugee children nor humanitarian workers or doctors."

She added that the focus of the summit is to push for unrestricted humanitarian aid access, the protection of civilians, and a political resolution to the bloody conflict.  

On Monday, the UNHCR said it estimates some 13 million people have been displaced during the civil war in Sudan, with 8.6 million people having been displaced internally and almost 4 million seeking refuge in neighboring countries, AFP news agency reported citing a UNHCR official. 

No end in sight for 2-year-long conflict

Sudan's civil war broke out on April 15, 2023, in Khartoum and has since expanded throughout the country. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been fighting against its former ally, the RSF. Both sides have been accused of war crimes.

In March, the Sudanese army reclaimed Khartoum and retook key positions like the presidential palace and airport. Multiple attempts to find a diplomatic solution have failed.

Olga Sarrado Mur, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) recently said the civil war in Sudan is "the world's most damaging displacement crisis."

The conflict has caused "a colossal trail of suffering, with families torn apart, clouding the future of millions."

Refugees report experiencing "systemic sexual violence and other human rights violations, as well as witnessing mass killings," Sarrado Mur said.

The UN reports that the number of children and adolescents in need has almost doubled in the past year. Famine and a lack of healthcare are urgent issues. 

Edited by: Wesley Rahn, Alex Berry