More than 1,000 feared dead in Sudan landslide, rebel group says
More than 1,000 people are feared dead after a landslide in a village in western Sudan, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM) has said.
The rebel group said only one survivor was found, and that the village in the Marrah Mountains area, in the Darfur region, was destroyed.
SLM leader Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour said in a statement that the landslide struck on Sunday, 31 August, after days of heavy rainfall.
He appealed to the United Nations and international aid agencies for help in recovering the bodies.
The SLM controls the area located in the Darfur region in western Sudan.
Fleeing the civil war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), residents had sought shelter in the Marrah Mountains area, where food and medication are insufficient.
In January, the US determined that the RSF and its militias were committing genocide in Sudan.
The RSF rejected the claim and said: “America previously punished the great African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, which was wrong.”
The RSF has been fighting Sudan’s army for territorial control of the country since war erupted in the capital, Khartoum, in April 2023.
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The ensuing devastation has been described as the worst humanitarian crisis ever recorded – with over 11 million people forced out of their homes, tens of thousands dead, and 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance.
Minni Minnawi, leader of a faction of the group, said in March last year that 1,500 troops would support the Sudanese army in the civil war against the RSF, according to the Sudan Tribune.
