Sudan landslide kills at least 1,000 people, rebel group says

Landslide destroyed a village in the Marra mountains area of western Sudan and left only one survivor

More than 1,000 people have been killed in a landslide in western Sudan, according to a rebel group that controls the area.

The landslide on Sunday, which followed heavy rain, destroyed the village of Tarasin in the Marra mountains area of western Sudan and left only one survivor, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM) said.

“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than 1,000 individuals, with only one survivor,” its statement said.

The SLM, which controls the area located in the Darfur region, appealed to the UN and international aid agencies to help recover the bodies. The village “has now been completely levelled to the ground”, the statement said.

Footage shared by the Marra Mountains news outlet showed a flattened area between mountain ranges and a group of people searching the area.

Luca Renda, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said he was “deeply saddened” by the reported landslide, adding that local sources indicated that “between 300 and 1,000 people may have lost their lives”. He said the UN and its partners were mobilising to support the affected communities.

Al-Amin Abdallah Abbas, a farmer from Ammo, a cluster of villages that includes Tarasin, said the area had experienced weeks of heavy rainfall. He told the Associated Press that tribal and community leaders in nearby areas had mobilised efforts to recover and bury the victims. “The village and its people disappeared,” he said. “It’s an unprecedented tragedy.”

Sunday’s landslide was one of the deadliest natural disasters in the recent history of Sudan, where hundreds of people die every year as a result of seasonal rainfall between July and October.

Sudan’s civil war, now in its third year, has plunged the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with famine declared in parts of Darfur.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has escalated in Darfur, especially in El Fasher, since the army took control of the capital, Khartoum, in March.

The Marra mountains area has turned into a hub for displaced families fleeing fighting in and around El Fasher. 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 organisations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone,” he said in a statement.

Much of Darfur – including the area where the landslide occurred – remains largely inaccessible to international aid organisations because of the continuing fighting, severely limiting the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance.

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the chair of the African Union Commission, called on the warring parties “to silence the guns and unite in facilitating the swift and effective delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance”.

The fighting in Sudan has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, including about 4 million from the capital alone.

Hundreds have been reported killed in recent months, and civilians in El Fasher say the paramilitaries are now waging their fiercest ever assault on the North Darfur state capital.

The war has been marked by atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The international criminal court has said it is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Cover photo:  People inspect debris after a landslide that devastated the village of Tarasin in Sudan’s Marra mountains. Photograph: Sudan Liberation Movement/Army/AFP/Getty Images