Sudan Rebel Group Says Landslide kills Over 1,000 in Marra Mountains

More than 1,000 people were killed when a landslide flattened a village in Sudan’s Marra Mountains after days of heavy rain, leaving only one survivor, a rebel group said on Monday.

The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), which controls parts of the mountainous area in the western region of Darfur, said the entire community had been wiped out and appealed for urgent humanitarian support.

“The whole village has been levelled to the ground, with only one person surviving,” the group said in a statement, calling on the United Nations and aid agencies to help recover bodies and provide assistance.

Independent confirmation of the death toll was not immediately available.

Communications and access to the Marra Mountains are limited, and humanitarian groups have struggled to operate in Sudan amid fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The Marra range, a volcanic highland dotted with springs, has for years served as a refuge for people fleeing conflict in Darfur.

Tens of thousands have been displaced there since war broke out in April 2023 between Sudan’s rival military factions.

The disaster underscores the vulnerability of communities caught between natural hazards and a war that has displaced more than 10 million people across the country, according to the United Nations.

Heavy seasonal rains often trigger floods and landslides in Sudan, but the scale of destruction reported in the Marra Mountains is unusually high.

Sudan has been gripped by conflict for nearly 17 months as the army and the RSF battle for control of the country, pushing millions to the brink of famine and leaving large areas cut off from aid.

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