A “massive” landslide in Sudan’s western Darfur region has flattened an entire mountain village and killed more than 1,000 people, a rebel group that controls the area said late on Monday, adding that there was just one survivor.
The disaster struck on Sunday after days of heavy rain, devastating the village of Tarasin in the Marra mountains, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM) said in a statement.
“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than one thousand individuals, with only one survivor,” the group said.
Photo: AFP / Sudan Liberation Movement/Army
The “massive and devastating” landslide “completely destroyed” part of a region known for citrus production, it added.
The group appealed to the UN and other aid organizations for help recovering the dead still buried under dirt and debris.
Sudan is embroiled in a bloody civil war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has plunged the nation into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The SLM has mostly stayed out of the fighting, but controls parts of Sudan’s tallest mountain range.
Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, called the landslide a “humanitarian tragedy that goes beyond the borders of the region.”
“We appeal to international humanitarian organizations to urgently intervene, and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone,” Minnawi said in a statement.
Much of Darfur — including the area where the landslide occurred — remains largely inaccessible to international aid organizations due to ongoing fighting, severely limiting the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been ravaged by a war that erupted with a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
In a series of offensives, al-Burhan’s forces regained central Sudan this year, leaving the RSF with control over most of Darfur — where it has conquered all but one state capital, El-Fasher — and parts of southern Kordofan.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, including about 4 million from the capital alone.
Hundreds have been reported killed and civilians in El-Fasher say the paramilitaries are currently waging their fiercest ever assault on the North Darfur state capital.
The war has decimated the northeast African nation’s infrastructure, and created what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
Approximately 10 million people are currently displaced within Sudan, while an additional 4 million have fled to neighboring nations, according to the UN.
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