Salamat and Beni Halba Clashes Kill 16 in Sudan’s Darfur, RSF-Controlled Area

In Sudan’s Darfur region, violent armed clashes in South Darfur state killed 16 people and injured others with varying degrees of injury, according to local sources cited by الوقائع الإخبارية.

“Khartoum – The clashes between the Salamat and Bani Hilba tribes in South Darfur State continued for a fifth day, and they are among the prominent social components allied with the Rapid Support Forces”

Al-Jazeera Net

The fighting stemmed from a dispute between the Salamat and Beni Halba tribes in Kabm locality, where the spark began with an incident in which pastures were burned before firearms were used.

Al-Jazeera Net

Field data described the area where the events occurred as under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with members of the rival tribes belonging to it.

Eyewitnesses said the clashes led to the displacement of a large number of residents after their homes were burned and their belongings destroyed in affected villages.

The article also warned that the absence of a central state authority could open the door to further tribal clashes whose price is paid by innocent civilians.

Al-Jazeera Net said the clashes between the Salamat and Bani Hilba tribes in South Darfur State continued for a fifth day, and described them as among the prominent social components allied with the Rapid Support Forces.

It said the RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, intervened and pledged to pay compensation.

Al-Waqai' al-Ikhbariyah

The same Al-Jazeera Net report framed the violence as the third time it had resurfaced between the two tribes since the war began more than three years ago, after ceasefire and peace documents in Kass in November 2023, Mekjar in June 2024, and Mekjar again in July 2025.

On losses, Al-Jazeera Net stated that clashes erupted in August 2023 left about 700 people dead on both sides and burned several villages, and that in the ongoing fighting more than 500 people have been killed or wounded so far.

It added that administrative expert Farouk El-Tijani attributed the rising death toll to the use of heavy weapons and combat vehicles belonging to the RSF.

Al-Jazeera Net reported that a doctor in the Komb area, in a video while tending the wounded, accused the RSF of being behind a drone attack that killed about 15 people last Sunday.

“Khartoum – The clashes between the Salamat and Bani Hilba tribes in South Darfur State continued for a fifth day, and they are among the prominent social components allied with the Rapid Support Forces”

Al-Jazeera Net

The doctor said the drone took off from Nyala, the capital of South Darfur State, to provide support to one of the ethnic groups and hit the market and the rural hospital in the area.

The report also described how both sides circulated videos showing excessive violence, the insulting of women, and the desecration of victims’ bodies, which it said further fuels mobilization and anger among the two tribes.

It warned that tribal militants from both sides appeared in RSF uniforms, using its military vehicles, and arming themselves with weapons only available to these forces.

Al-Jazeera Net concluded that observers say the RSF will pay the price of militarizing Darfur by relying on tribal militias, which dissolves the tribal incubators on which its power was built and weakens its control over them.