Sudan Nashra: Arrest of Beni Halba leader triggers new escalation in tribal war with Salamat | Thousands of RSF fighters deployed around Obeid, military braces for offensive | RSF torches villages, kills civilians in Zaghawa lands | Senior Hemedti advisor defects from RSF | Democratic Bloc chair joins consultations in Oslo

Subscribe to our Lens on Sudan newsletter here . In South Darfur, a tribal war fought with the weapons and for the influence the Rapid Support Forces sponsored and sustained threatened the paramilitary group itself. Fighting between the Salamat and Beni Halba tribes, both key constituencies within the RSF’s sphere of influence, escalated over the past week after the arrest of a prominent Beni Halba leader accused of helping arm tribal fighters, according to Beni Halba and Salamat tribal figures and the head of an independent South Darfur social peace committee who spoke to Mada Masr. The detention triggered an armed mobilization among Beni Halba communities, who viewed the move as evidence that Salamat officers within the RSF were using the paramilitary group’s command structure to tip the balance of the conflict in their favor, a Beni Halba leader said. As hundreds of armed vehicles and fighters converged in Ad al-Fursan — the Beni Halba’s historic stronghold — some groups threatened to target RSF military facilities in Nyala. Under pressure, the RSF backed down and released the detainee. Rather than easing tensions, however, the release was followed by another surge in violence as mistrust deepened on both sides. Heavy clashes raged over the weekend in the Kubum and Ad al-Fursan localities, involving artillery, anti-aircraft guns and other heavy weapons. Both sides accused the other of igniting the latest fighting. Yet despite the competing narratives, Salamat and Beni Halba sources painted a very similar picture of the toll on both sides: villages shelled indiscriminately, homes burned down and looted, and people forced to flee. Two Salamat figures who spoke to Mada Masr called for an independent investigation into abuses committed during the fighting and for the destruction suffered by all sides to be documented without bias. A senior official in the RSF’s civil administration said the RSF has since deployed mediators and forces to separate the rival groups and isolate officers and soldiers accused of acting on tribal loyalties. As the war between the Salamat and Beni Halba tribes increasingly tests the RSF’s ability to manage the tribal alliances that underpin its rule in Darfur, the paramilitary group has been dealt another blow from within. Fares al-Nour, one of the closest associates of RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo and a key figure in managing the group’s most sensitive political and diplomatic files, has defected, according to two sources close to him and six members of the RSF leadership circle who spoke to Mada Masr. The announcement of his exit came after he had traveled to Saudi Arabia, according to a political source close to Nour and sources in the RSF leadership. Nour traveled to the Gulf country under the pretext of accompanying his wife for medical treatment. But after the defection of former RSF field commander Ali “Savanna” Rizgallah last month following a similar trip, RSF leaders were wary. According to the political source, they warned Nour against taking the same course. Their concerns soon proved valid. Contact with Nour was lost after his arrival in Saudi Arabia, and RSF leaders later received intelligence indicating that he had begun coordinating with Sudan’s General Intelligence Service to arrange his departure from the RSF, a source in the leadership said. Nour’s exit fueled growing resentment toward Saudi Arabia among Hemedti’s inner circle, three sources in the commander’s advisory council and a senior leader told Mada Masr. They cited what they described as Riyadh’s direct role in facilitating intelligence outreach to RSF officials with the aim of encouraging defections. The latest departure struck a particularly sensitive nerve, however, because of the extent of Nour’s knowledge of the group’s political and diplomatic affairs, the three advisory council sources said. As the RSF contends with mounting crises within its own ranks, the group has massed forces for a long-anticipated assault on Obeid. Throughout the week, thousands of fighters as well as military equipment were deployed from Darfur and Libya to positions north, northwest and west of North Kordofan’s capital, according to two military sources who spoke to Mada Masr. One source said the RSF could seek to begin the battle by attacking the military’s defensive positions north and west of Obeid. Another scenario would involve pushing along the Saderat Road linking Bara to Khartoum State, potentially enabling the RSF to consolidate control over Bara as a staging ground for pressure on the state capital. The military source nevertheless maintained that their forces are ready. They said defensive lines now extend more than 25 km from Obeid and are supported by artillery and drones. As both sides position themselves for a confrontation, drone strikes have continued to hit civilian targets inside Obeid. According to a local activist, an RSF drone struck a fuel station in the Matar neighborhood on Sunday before another attack targeted a fuel tanker on the Tandatli-Obeid road the following day. A former military officer told Mada Masr that the attacks on fuel infrastructure appear intended to disrupt supply while sparking panic among residents by igniting massive fires. The goal, they argued, is to force people out and increase pressure on authorities ahead of any assault. On Thursday, an RSF drone strike on Obeid’s main electricity substation triggered a citywide blackout, according to a security source, who warned that the outage could also lead to water service disruptions. The escalation in and around Obeid prompted warnings from the United Nations over the risk of large-scale violence. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged swift intervention to prevent a repeat of the devastation seen in Fasher. *** Arrest of Beni Halba leader triggers new escalation in tribal war with Salamat Members of the Beni Halba tribe block a road that leads to Nyala in South Darfur, June 12. - Courtesy: @nour_alnwar via X. The tribal war between the RSF-allied Salamat and Beni Halba tribes, which has raged in South Darfur since late May, has spread well beyond its epicenter and briefly threatened to draw the paramilitary into direct confrontation with one of the tribal allies, according to Beni Halba and Salamat tribal figures, the head of an independent South Darfur social peace committee, and administrative sources in the state who spoke to Mada Masr. As fighting expanded across parts of the Kubum locality over the past two weeks, the RSF moved to arrest a prominent Beni Halba leader accused of facilitating the transfer of military supplies to members of his tribe. The move triggered backlash and a show of force among Beni Halba communities, whose members interpreted the arrest as evidence that Salamat officers within the RSF were using the paramilitary group’s command structure to tilt the conflict in favor of their tribe. The RSF was forced to release the detainee. But rather than calming the situation, the move deepened mutual suspicions between the warring sides and prompted a new escalation in fighting that has driven further civilian casualties and abuses, the sources said. The conflict first flared up in late May, when a long-running dispute between the Salamat and Beni Halba descended into open warfare in and around the town of Kubum. Armed with weapons supplied by the RSF, as part of its broader strategy of mobilizing allied tribal groups across Darfur, fighters from both communities deployed heavy weaponry, causing mass killings and displacement. A Sudanese human rights field observer affiliated with an independent organization in Nyala told Mada Masr at the time that RSF fighters and officers from the rival tribes had effectively turned the paramilitary group’s own combat resources against one another, resulting in a tribal war senior RSF commanders are unable to contain. Far from subsiding, the violence spread over the following two weeks toward Um Labasa, inside Beni Halba territory, a Beni Halba leader told Mada Masr. According to the leader, RSF field commanders informed the Nyala sector command that a prominent figure in the tribe was helping manage covert supply routes and ammunition depots for tribal fighters. RSF intelligence officers subsequently arrested him. Within the Beni Halba community, the arrest was interpreted as evidence that influential RSF officers from the Salamat tribe were using the paramilitary group’s command structure to advance tribal interests and weaken their rivals, the leader said. The move sparked widespread anger, prompting armed groups and community leaders to converge in the Ad al-Fursan locality, the tribe’s historic stronghold. Some, according to the source, threatened to storm the RSF’s main military headquarters in Nyala. Faced with mounting tribal pressure and the prospect of a direct confrontation, the RSF leadership reversed course and released the detainee on June 11, the source said. But the decision did not defuse tensions, they added. Instead, it reinforced fears and mistrust on both sides, setting the stage for more intense clashes. An administrative source in South Darfur told Mada Masr that heavy clashes raged on Friday and Saturday across the Kubum locality and villages north of the Ad al-Fursan town. Armed groups from both sides used artillery, anti-aircraft guns and other heavy weapons, resulting in additional casualties and extending the conflict into new areas, according to the source. According to Badr Eddin al-Gurashy, the head of the independent social peace committee in South Darfur, after the release of their detained leader, Beni Halba fighters set up ambushes along major transportation routes and attacked a military convoy carrying Salamat youth. Salamat groups subsequently retaliated with large-scale attacks that left several Beni Halba villages torched, looted and destroyed, the committee head said. A second Beni Halba leader accused armed Salamat groups of committing serious violations against civilians in Markandi, Damba and Artala in Ad al-Fursan during the fighting. The abuses included killings, arson, looting, forced displacement and sexual violence, the leader told Mada Masr. They described the attacks as a systematic effort to dismantle the social and economic fabric of their communities and said that some RSF commanders from the Salamat tribe enabled the violence. But a member of the Salamat mobilization committee told Mada Masr that the group’s operations were defensive measures aimed at repelling attacks on Salamat-controlled areas and transportation corridors around Kubum. According to the source, Salamat villages and communities in Kubum came under heavy indiscriminate artillery fire and coordinated attacks by Beni Halba fighters, resulting in civilian casualties, torched homes, and the displacement of hundreds of families. The source said the Salamat suffered significant human and material losses during the fighting and would not accept any attempt by the Beni Halba to leverage their influence within the RSF and Darfur’s civil administration to secure a more favorable balance of power. Both the mobilization committee member and a Salamat leader dismissed the accusations leveled by the Beni Halba as political propaganda intended to distort events on the ground and present the conflict as a one-sided campaign against their community. Both called for an independent investigation into abuses committed during the fighting and for the destruction suffered by all sides to be documented without bias. According to a senior official in the RSF’s civil administration, South Darfur sector commanders have established a liaison committee composed of military officials and community leaders in an effort to contain the crisis and secure an immediate ceasefire. Additional forces have also been deployed along the frontlines to separate the rival groups and isolate officers and soldiers accused of acting on tribal loyalties, the official told Mada Masr. The official described the violence as the latest manifestation of longstanding disputes over land, resources, grazing routes and trade corridors, arguing that recent tensions had been aggravated by what they described as “malicious rumors” designed to undermine relations between local communities and the RSF. Yet tribal figures, Kubum residents and local human rights observers who spoke to Mada Masr earlier this month dismissed the events as merely another round of tribal fighting, linking the scale of the violence to broader changes in Darfur brought about by the RSF during the war. A source within the Rizeigat tribal coordination body told Mada Masr at the time that both the Salamat and Beni Halba have emerged as important constituencies within the RSF’s network of tribal alliances. By heavily arming allied groups and redrawing local power arrangements in areas under its control, the source said, the RSF has heightened competition among groups vying for influence within the paramilitary group’s military and administrative structures. *** Massive RSF deployment around Obeid, military braces for imminent offensive Aftermath of an RSF attack on the main electricity substation in Obeid, North Kordofan, June 18. The RSF moved reinforcements throughout the week from Darfur and Libya into positions surrounding Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State, amid what two military sources told Mada Masr are preparations for a major offensive. The buildup has unfolded alongside a continued drone campaign targeting civilian infrastructure and neighborhoods in the city, including a strike on Obeid’s main power substation that caused a citywide blackout. Thousands of fighters, around 150 Emirati-made Nimr armored vehicles, jamming systems and Chinese-made FK-2000 air defense systems arrived over the past week from Nyala and RSF recruitment camps in Libya, according to a military source. The reinforcements were deployed across Sodary, Bara, Gabal Abu Sunun, Gabra al-Sheikh, Um Samima and other locations north, northwest and west of the city. To limit their exposure to military airstrikes, the forces dispersed into smaller formations, though their largest concentrations remain in Sodary, Gabra al-Sheikh and Bara to the north and northwest, the source said. The RSF could seek to strike the military’s advance defensive positions along Obeid’s northern and western axes, according to the source. Another possibility, they added, would be an advance along the northern Saderat Road linking Bara and Khartoum State, aimed at forcing a military withdrawal from Rahad al-Nuba and turning Bara into a major operational hub from which pressure on Obeid could be intensified. Military preparations to defend the city are already extensive, the source said, with fortified defensive lines stretching more than 25 km beyond Obeid and supported by artillery and drone coverage. Clashes have already accompanied the military buildup. A field source told Mada Masr that RSF units advanced on Sunday from the Hammadi area toward Um Arda, around 27 km south of Obeid, but were driven back by artillery fire and drone strikes. Military aircraft also struck around 15 RSF vehicles in Um Samima and Khawi west of Obeid on Monday and Tuesday, according to the source. Inside Obeid, drone attacks have continued. A local activist said a fuel station in Matar neighborhood was struck on Sunday, followed by an attack on a fuel tanker along the Tandatli-Obeid road the next day. The Energy and Petroleum Ministry announced that an employee of the Obeid Refinery Company was killed when a drone hit his home in Matar on Sunday. The RSF expanded its drone campaign on Thursday evening, targeting the main power substation east of Obeid near Jabal Kordofan, according to a security source who spoke to Mada Masr. The attack hit the main transformer feeding the city and plunged it into darkness, the source said, warning that the blackout could also disrupt water services, as pumping stations and water facilities rely on the electricity grid. On Friday, another drone targeted a fuel truck in Obeid. The security source said the RSF has systematically targeted fuel infrastructure across the city, in addition to neighborhoods surrounding the command of the Fifth Infantry Division. A former military officer said the attacks on fuel infrastructure appear intended to disrupt supply networks serving both civilians and the military, while sparking panic among residents through massive fires and plumes of smoke. The broader goal, they argued, is to drive displacement and increase pressure on authorities in ways that could shape the course of military operations. Amid the escalating drone attacks and military buildup, the United Nations warned of the risk of large-scale violence in Obeid. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for urgent action by “all those with influence” over the warring parties to use it to prevent further bloodshed. “We must not allow the horrors of Fasher to be repeated in Obeid,” he said in a statement on Thursday. Seeking to reassure the public, the governor of North Kordofan and the commander of the Fifth Infantry Division toured markets and neighborhoods on Wednesday before addressing worshippers at Obeid’s historic mosque. Both insisted that the city remains secure and capable of withstanding any potential threats. The military broke the siege on Obeid in February 2025, ending a blockade that had persisted since the start of the war. The operation later facilitated advances toward Khartoum and cemented the city’s role as a key military command-and-control center overseeing operations across western Sudan. *** RSF burns 8 villages, kills 5 in North Darfur’s Zaghawa tribal lands A village in the Orshi area in North Darfur is torched in an RSF attack, June 14. - Courtesy: Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi via Facebook. Five civilians were killed and eight villages were looted and burned down in an RSF attack on the Orshi area of the Ambro locality in North Darfur on Sunday, according to a senior Zaghawa tribal administration source who spoke to Mada Masr. Orshi lies in the Zaghawa tribal lands along the Chadian border, one of the last military-held areas in Darfur and a frequent target of RSF operations since Fasher fell to the paramilitary group late last year. The source said the assault began in the early hours of Sunday and involved dozens of combat vehicles as well as camel-mounted fighters moving through villages surrounding the Orshi reservoir. Entire villages were burned during the attack, while homes, livestock and food stores were systematically looted, the source added. Residents fled toward nearby valleys and safer areas, where they are now facing acute humanitarian hardship after losing shelter and access to basic necessities, according to the source. Following the attack, RSF fighters circulated videos showing their control of the area, while some commanders issued calls for displaced residents to return, offering assurances of protection. Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi confirmed the attack in a statement on Sunday, condemning ongoing violations against civilians in Darfur. *** Senior Hemedti advisor leaves RSF in highest level political defection since war began The RSF commander’s advisor, Fares al-Nour, announces his defection from the paramilitary group, June 17. Fares al-Nour, advisor to the RSF’s commander and a key handler of sensitive political and negotiation files, has defected from the paramilitary group, two sources close to him and six members of the RSF leadership circle told Mada Masr. Nour announced his resignation in a pre-recorded statement broadcast by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, which a source close to him said was filmed four days earlier “in a Gulf country.” Both a political source close to Nour and sources within the RSF leadership said that Nour had traveled to Saudi Arabia prior to his announcement. The RSF sources accused Riyadh of playing an active role in facilitating defections from the group. The move represents the most significant political defection to hit the RSF since the start of the war. One of the closest associates of RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, Nour headed the group’s delegation during the 2023 Jeddah talks, co-founded the Tasis coalition, and served as governor of Khartoum in the RSF-led parallel government. He managed some of the RSF’s most sensitive political files. A source in the group’s advisory office said Nour led negotiations with the Sudanese Armed Forces and became a key architect of Hemedti’s foreign relations after the RSF leader left Khartoum in late 2023, accompanying him on all overseas visits. The manner of his departure appears to mirror that of Ali “Savanna” Rizgallah, a field commander who defected from the RSF in May. According to an RSF leadership source, Nour traveled to Saudi Arabia ostensibly to accompany his wife for medical treatment. A political source close to Nour said RSF leaders had warned the advisor against following Savanna’s example. According to the source, Savanna had initially left Darfur for medical treatment in India before cutting off contact with the RSF. The group later learned that he had traveled onward to Saudi Arabia, where he announced his defection, they added. Contact with Nour was lost shortly after his arrival in Saudi Arabia, the RSF leadership source said. The group later received intelligence indicating that he had begun coordinating with Sudan’s General Intelligence Service to arrange his exit from the RSF’s political and military structures, they added. Nour’s exit fueled growing resentment toward Saudi Arabia among Hemedti’s inner circle, three sources in the RSF leader’s advisory council told Mada Masr. They cited what they described as Riyadh’s direct role in facilitating Savanna and Nour’s defections, the latter a particularly sensitive issue given Nour’s responsibility for some of the group’s most important political and diplomatic files. A senior RSF leader accused Saudi Arabia of acting as a “third party” that facilitates intelligence outreach to RSF officials with the aim of encouraging defections. A senior official in Sudan’s General Intelligence Service cast the development as evidence of deepening fractures within the RSF and the weakening of its political structures. Nour’s departure follows another setback earlier this month, when Beshara al-Huweira, the RSF’s chief military operations commander on the Bara front in North Kordofan, also defected, according to a security source in North Kordofan’s Obeid. A Chadian national, Huweira was among the earliest commanders to join the RSF’s ranks and played an important role in mobilizing reinforcements from Chad, the source said. *** Sudanese rival camps hold consultations on Oslo Forum sidelines, Democratic Bloc chair in attendance Sudanese political leaders from rival camps met in Oslo on Monday for consultations held on the sidelines of the Oslo Forum, in what political sources described as a follow-up to the Quintet Mechanism-sponsored talks held in Addis Ababa earlier this month. For the Democratic Bloc, the military-led government’s main political base, the meetings represented a different approach from the one it adopted in Ethiopia. After Transitional Sovereignty Council chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan publicly criticized political initiatives hosted abroad, the bloc’s leadership and several of its largest constituent groups boycotted the Addis Ababa consultations, although Minnawi’s Sudan Liberation Movement and allied groups ultimately chose to attend. This time, however, Democratic Bloc Chair Gaafar al-Mirghany himself led the bloc’s participation. Three sources in the bloc told Mada Masr the decision was driven by a desire to maintain a presence in international forums and prevent others from exclusively shaping discussions around Sudan’s future. Sudanese Congress Party Political Secretary Sherif Osman described the Oslo meetings as an informal extension of discussions initiated in Addis Ababa under the sponsorship of the Quintet Mechanism. The annual Oslo Forum invited a number of Sudanese political figures to participate in consultations focused on issues that were under discussion in Ethiopia, including humanitarian access and pathways toward a ceasefire, Osman told Mada Masr. Among those attending were Mirghany; Omar al-Digair, the head of the SCP and representative of the opposition Sumud coalition; Al-Tigany al-Sisi, the head of the military-allied National Movement Forces Alliance, a member of the Democratic Bloc; and Ahmed Togod Lisan, the representative of the RSF-led Tasis alliance, which heads the parallel government in Darfur. Given the mix of participants from rival political camps, Democratic Bloc sources were keen to distinguish the consultations from any formal political process. A member of the bloc’s executive body stressed that the Oslo Forum is neither a Sudan-focused conference nor a negotiating platform for Sudanese parties, but rather a global gathering on peace, security and conflict resolution attended by representatives of governments, international organizations and regional bodies. The source argued that the presence of rival Sudanese actors in the same venue should not be construed as evidence of direct negotiations, political recognition or agreements between them. A source informed of the Democratic Bloc’s political deliberations told Mada Masr that Mirghany’s participation reflected a broader effort to maintain a presence in international forums where Sudan’s future is being discussed. The source, as well as a senior member of the bloc’s media committee, argued that disengagement would leave space for rival actors to shape international perceptions of the war unchallenged. The source described participation as “a political and national responsibility aimed at defending Sudan’s interests,” particularly in light of the fallout from the Addis Ababa meetings, where several Democratic Bloc factions broke with the coalition’s boycott and attended the talks. For a senior Sumud source close to Digair’s delegation, the consultations helped sustain momentum generated in Addis Ababa. The source and Osman both said another round of talks is expected to take place in Nyon, Switzerland, in the coming weeks. *** Subscribe to our Lens on Sudan newsletter here . The post Sudan Nashra: Arrest of Beni Halba leader triggers new escalation in tribal war with Salamat | Thousands of RSF fighters deployed around Obeid, military braces for offensive | RSF torches villages, kills civilians in Zaghawa lands | Senior Hemedti advisor defects from RSF | Democratic Bloc chair joins consultations in Oslo first appeared on Mada Masr .