/
RSS Feed
A landslide has killed at least 370 people in Sudan’s remote Marra Mountains. Antoine Gérard, the UN’s deputy humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, said the true scale of the disaster was difficult to determine as the area is extremely hard to reach.
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), which controls the region, said days of heavy rain triggered Sunday’s landslide that wiped out much of the village of Tarseen. It warned the death toll could be as high as 1,000, with only one known survivor.
The group has appealed for urgent humanitarian aid, but Mr Gérard noted that delivering assistance would be challenging. “We do not have helicopters… everything goes in vehicles on very bumpy roads. Sometimes we have to wait hours, maybe days to cross valleys in the rainy season,” he said.
Thousands displaced by the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had sought refuge in the mountains. The SLM/A has remained neutral in the conflict, though some factions back the army.
Darfur’s governor Minni Minnawi described the disaster as a “humanitarian tragedy” and urged international aid agencies to intervene. The African Union also appealed for warring parties to put down arms and allow aid to reach survivors.
Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in April 2023, has devastated the country. Up to 150,000 people are estimated to have been killed and about 12 million forced from their homes. The Darfur region has seen some of the worst violence, with accusations of genocide levelled against the RSF and allied militias.
