Landslide kills over 1,000 people in Sudan's Darfur region, rebel group says

At least 1,000 people were killed in Sudan’s western Darfur region after a landslide destroyed an entire village in the Marra Mountains, leaving only one survivor.

“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than one thousand individuals, with only one survivor,” said the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, the rebel group which controls the village.

The group said in a statement on Monday that the landslide struck on Sunday, completely levelling the village to the ground and followed days of heavy rainfall.

The movement appealed to the United Nations and various other international humanitarian organisations to help recover the bodies of the victims, which included children.

The tragic disaster adds to what the UN described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, largely man-made, after Sudan was plunged into a brutal civil war, currently in its third year.  Famine has already been declared in several parts of the Darfur region.

Many Sudanese fleeing the raging war between the armed forces and paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in northern Darfur sought refuge in the Marra Mountains area, where food, water and other basic living necessities are extremely limited.

The UN says that some estimates suggest that more than 150,000 people were killed throughout the course of the war and more than 14,000 people were displaced inside the country.

More than half the population, which slightly exceeds 50 million, are facing crisis levels of hunger. Aid operations remain limited in the country due to the ongoing heavy fighting between the army, RSF and their supporting factions, rebel groups and militias.

Fighting in the Darfur region has escalated dramatically in recent months, particularly al-Fasher, which has been under siege by the RSF, as it seeks to capture the strategic city, the last major area held by the army in the region.