A catastrophic landslide has claimed more than 1,000 lives in western Sudan, reducing an entire village in the Marra Mountains to rubble, according to the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A). Only one survivor has been reported from the disaster.
The landslide struck on August 31 following days of relentless rainfall, the group led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour said in a statement. The movement, which controls the affected region in Darfur, urgently appealed to the United Nations and international aid organizations to assist in recovering the bodies of men, women and children buried under the debris.
“The village has now been completely levelled to the ground,” the SLM/A reported, underscoring the scale of destruction.
The tragedy comes as civilians already displaced by Sudan’s brutal two-year war sought refuge in the Marra Mountains after fleeing fierce battles between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in North Darfur state. Yet the mountainous shelters offered little safety as food and medicine remain scarce.
The civil war has left more than half the Sudanese population grappling with crisis-level hunger, while millions have been forced from their homes. Even the capital of North Darfur, Al-Fashir, remains under heavy fire, compounding the humanitarian disaster.
