Rapid Support Forces intelligence units have detained herders from the Mahamid tribe in North Darfur and transferred them to a prison in Nyala, local Sudanese media reported on Sunday, citing unnamed local sources.
The arrests reportedly targeted members of the Jalul clan in Umm Jalbakh, northwest of El Fasher. The sources did not provide a precise number of detainees.
According to the report, the herders were accused of passing information to Mahamid leader Musa Hilal, who heads the Revolutionary Awakening Council, and former RSF commander Al-Nur Al-Qubba, who defected to the Sudanese army.
The sources said those detained were taken to Dagaris prison in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. The arrests, alleged grounds for detention and reported transfers could not be independently verified. No public RSF statement addressing the allegations was found in the sources reviewed.
RSF intelligence personnel have also tightened surveillance of camel herders believed to have arrived from Kutum and a pastoral settlement associated with Hilal, the sources said.
Umm Jalbakh and villages around Jebel Kusa, west of El Fasher, have recently seen an influx of armed herders searching for grazing land as poor rainfall and drought affect large parts of North Darfur, according to the report.
The sources warned that the arrests could trigger clashes in Umm Jalbakh, also known as Umm Asal, which they described as a traditional Jalul settlement.
The reported detentions come against a backdrop of tensions between the RSF and Hilal, who has backed the Sudanese army during the war.
Local Sudanese media said Hilal left his stronghold in Misteriha for Khartoum after RSF forces overran the area in February 2026.
Several commanders close to Hilal, including Al-Qubba and Ali Rizqallah, known as “Savanna,” subsequently broke with the RSF. According to the report, they have been assembling fighters in training camps to join the army’s campaign against their former force.
