Landslide Kills 1,000 In Remote Sudanese Region, Rebels Say

A landslide flattened an entire village in war-torn Sudan’s western Darfur region, leaving at least 1,000 people dead, according to a rebel group that controls the area.

The disaster in Tarasin followed intense rainfall in the remote Jebel Marra area in the last week of August, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army said in a statement on Tuesday. One person survived, it said.

“The village has been completely leveled to the ground,” the SLM/A said.

The rebel movement appealed to the United Nations and other aid organizations to assist in the recovery of bodies still buried by debris. The Jebel Marra region has been a refuge for Sudanese fleeing escalating unrest in the Darfur region. 

Sudan has been mired in conflict since April 2023, when a power struggle erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced in what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The country’s army-backed government expressed its condolences to the families of the landslide victims in a statement. It pledged that “all possible resources will be utilized to provide support and relief to those affected by this painful disaster.”