NAIROBI
More than 1,000 people lost their lives in a landslide triggered by heavy rains in a village in the Central Darfur State of western Sudan, an armed group said.
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), the group that controls the area, said in a statement that the entire population of Tarsin village in the Marra Mountains was killed on Aug. 31, after heavy rains caused the landslide.
Only one person survived the disaster, the group said, adding that the village’s renowned citrus orchards were destroyed.
It called on the international organizations and the United Nations to assist in the recovery of the bodies from under the ground.
In a statement, Darfur Governor Minni Arko Minnawi described the incident as “a humanitarian tragedy that exceeds the borders of the region,” and appealed to international humanitarian organizations to “intervene urgently to provide support and assistance at this critical moment, as the tragedy is beyond the capacity of our people.”
The Sudanese government mourned the victims of the landslide disaster in the Marra Mountains area and pledged to mobilize all available resources to provide relief to those affected in the tragedy.
SLM/A is a political and military movement operating in some parts of the Darfur State, which is under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The natural disaster came amid a raging war between the army and the RSF, which has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 14 million since April 2023, according to the UN and local authorities. Research from US universities, however, estimates the death toll at around 130,000.
