A landslide has killed at least 1,000 people in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan, according to the rebel group the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.
The landslide on Sunday, which left only one survivor and “levelled” much of Tarasin village, was caused by days of severe rain, according to the group.
The movement has requested humanitarian aid from the United Nations and other regional and international agencies.
Many citizens of North Darfur state sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region after being forced to flee their homes by a fight between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, described the disaster as a “humanitarian tragedy.”
The civil conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023, has plunged the country into hunger and sparked charges of genocide in western Darfur.
Estimates of the death toll from the civil war vary greatly, but a US official last year claimed that up to 150,000 people had been dead since hostilities began in 2023. Approximately 12 million people have fled their homes.
Factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, which controls the area where the landslide happened, have committed to fight alongside Sudan’s military against the RSF.
Many Darfuris believe the RSF and affiliated militias are waging a war to turn the ethnically diverse region into an Arab-ruled territory.
