Landslide Buries Village in Sudan‘s Darfur Region, Leaving Roughly 1,000 Feared Dead
EL-FASHER, SUDAN – A massive landslide has leveled the village of Tarasin in Sudan’s central marrah Mountains, with approximately 1,000 people feared dead, according to the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army (SLMA), a rebel group active in the area. remarkably, one person is reported to have survived.
Footage shared by the Marrah Mountains news outlet showed a flattened area between mountain ranges with a group of people searching the debris.
The tragedy unfolded amidst a devastating civil war that has gripped Sudan since April 2023, when tensions between the country’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into open fighting in Khartoum and across the nation.
Most of the Darfur region, including the Marrah Mountains, has become largely inaccessible to the U.N. and aid groups due to crippling restrictions and ongoing clashes between the Sudanese military and the RSF.
Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, described the landslide as a “humanitarian tragedy that goes beyond the borders of the region,” according to French news agency AFP. “We appeal to international humanitarian organizations 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.The Marrah Mountains, a rugged volcanic chain extending for 100 miles southwest of el-Fasher, have become a refuge for displaced families fleeing the intense fighting in and around the city. The area, a world heritage site according to UNICEF, is known for its cooler temperatures and higher rainfall compared to surrounding regions, and reaches heights of over 9,800 feet. It lies more than 560 miles west of Khartoum.Sudan experiences seasonal rains and flooding that claim hundreds of lives annually. This landslide is among the deadliest natural disasters in the country’s recent history. The ongoing conflict has already killed more than 40,000 people and forced over 14 million to flee their homes, with famine conditions emerging in parts of the country.The conflict has been marked by reports of ethnically motivated killings and rape, prompting investigations by the International Criminal Court into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
