At Least 1,000 Dead in Sudan Landslide, Rebel Group Reports

Sudan Liberation Movement/Army

People gather after a landslide at a village in the Marra Mountains, Darfur region, western Sudan.

A devastating landslide has claimed the lives of at least 1,000 people in the remote Marra Mountains of western Sudan, according to a statement from the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A).

Triggered by days of torrential rainfall on Sunday, the disaster reportedly “levelled” much of the village of Tarasin, leaving just one survivor. The SLM/A has urgently appealed for humanitarian assistance from the United Nations as well as regional and international organisations.

Thousands of civilians from North Darfur had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains after being displaced by fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, described the landslide as a “humanitarian tragedy”.

Sudan has been gripped by a brutal civil war since April 2023, when clashes erupted between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The conflict has devastated the country, pushing millions into famine and sparking accusations of genocide in Darfur.

Estimates of the death toll vary widely, but a U.S. official last year suggested up to 150,000 people had been killed since hostilities began. Around 12 million have been displaced from their homes.

The landslide occurred in territory under the control of a faction of the SLM/A, which has pledged to support the Sudanese military in its fight against the RSF.

Many in Darfur accuse the RSF and allied militias of conducting a campaign to transform the region into an Arab-dominated territory, targeting its ethnically diverse communities.

Source: BBC



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