RSF attacks town near Zamzam camp, accuses displaced of aiding SAF
February 8, 2025 (EL FASHER) – At least three people were killed and others wounded in an attack by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a town near the Zamzam camp in North Darfur on Friday, according to a camp leader.
The RSF also detained dozens of displaced people from the camp, accusing them of smuggling goods and fuel to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Joint Force inside the North Darfur capital, El Fasher.
Over the past weeks, the RSF has tightened its siege on El Fasher, which has been under blockade for nearly a year. The RSF has deployed large numbers of its forces in the western part of the city and taken control of key water sources in Shakra.
“At least three people were killed yesterday, Friday, in an attack by the RSF on the town of Saluma, west of El Fasher,” Mustafa Abkar Walida, an activist in the Zamzam camp, told Sudan Tribune.
He said the RSF forced civilians to flee to the Zamzam camp after burning their homes and looting their money and crops.
The town of Saluma, in the western countryside of the historic capital of the Darfur region, hosts thousands of citizens from the city of El Fasher and the Zamzam camp who fled to the town following the military escalation.
In recent days, the RSF has also ransacked areas of Golo, Shakra, Um Jumeina, and other villages in the western countryside of North Darfur’s capital, forcing residents to flee. The RSF has also cut off the road linking the Zamzam camp and the city of El Fasher as part of its plans to tighten the siege on the capital of North Darfur State.
Meanwhile, the RSF announced the arrest of dozens of displaced people, accusing them of smuggling fuel and food to the army and the Joint Force inside El Fasher. RSF-affiliated platforms published videos showing a group of young men being tortured by soldiers.
El Fasher has witnessed violent clashes since last May between the army and its allied armed movements against the RSF, which is seeking to control El Fasher, the last stronghold of the central government in the Darfur region.