Khartoum: A devastating landslide in Sudan’s Marra Mountains has obliterated an entire village, leaving more than 1,000 people dead and just a single known survivor, according to the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A).
The tragedy struck on August 31, following days of unrelenting rainfall that triggered massive soil movement in the mountainous terrain. The SLM/A, led by Abdelwahid Mohamed Nour, reported that the community has been completely buried under rubble, with men, women, and children trapped beneath collapsed earth and stone.
The group has urgently appealed to the United Nations and international aid organizations to assist with recovery operations and deliver emergency supplies. With entire families lost, the need for humanitarian intervention is being described as “immediate and overwhelming.”
Many of the dead were already victims of displacement, having fled the ongoing conflict between Sudan’s national army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The civil war, now dragging into its second year, has created widespread shortages of food, medicine, and shelter. The Marra Mountains had become a temporary refuge for thousands escaping violence in North Darfur, but the natural disaster has turned the area into a scene of mass devastation.
The conflict has displaced millions nationwide and driven over half of Sudan’s population into acute food insecurity. Meanwhile, fighting continues around Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, further complicating relief efforts for survivors of both war and disaster.