Sudan appeals for aid after landslide kills more than 1,000 people in
single village in Darfur
[September 03, 2025]
By SAMY MAGDY
CAIRO (AP) — Sudan appealed for international aid on Tuesday after a
landslide wiped out an entire village in western region of Darfur,
killing an estimated 1,000 people in one of the deadliest natural
disasters in the African country’s recent history.
The village of Tarasin was “completely leveled to the ground,” the Sudan
Liberation Movement-Army said as it appealed to the U.N. and
international aid groups for help to recover the bodies.
The tragedy happened Sunday in the village, located in Central Darfur’s
Marrah Mountains, after days of heavy rainfall.
“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents,
estimated to be more than 1,000 people," the rebel group said in a
statement. ”Only one person survived,” it added.
Abdel-Wahid Nour, the group’s leader, made an appeal on Tuesday for
international help. “The scale and magnitude of the disaster are immense
and defy description,” he said.
The ruling Sovereign Council in Khartoum said it mourned “the death of
hundreds of innocent residents” in the Marrah Mountains' landslide. In a
statement, it said “all possible capabilities” have been mobilized to
support the area.
Footage shared by the Marrah Mountains news outlet showed a flattened
area between mountain ranges with a group of people searching the area.
Luca Renda, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, said he was
“deeply saddened” by the reported landslide, adding that local sources
indicated that “between 300 and 1,000 people may have lost their lives.”
He said the U.N. and its partners were mobilizing to support the
impacted communities at the scene.
A local emergency network, which has been providing support to
communities across Sudan during the war, said its teams recovered the
bodies of at nine people on Tuesday. Search teams were facing challenges
to reach the area because of bad weather and lack of resources, it
added.
‘Unprecedented tragedy’
Al-Amin Abdallah Abbas, a farmer from Ammo — a cluster of villages that
includes Tarasin — said the area has seen weeks of heavy rainfall, with
Tarasin among the worst hit. He said tribal and community leaders in
nearby areas have moblized efforts to recover and bury the victims.
“The village and its people disappeared," he said. “It's an
unprecedented tragedy.”
Mohamed Abdel-Rahman al-Nair, a spokesman for the Sudan Liberation
Movement-Army, told The Associated Press that the village where the
landslide took place is remote and accessible only by foot or donkeys.
Tarasin is located in the central Marrah Mountains, a volcanic area with
a height of more than 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) at its summit. A world
heritage site, the mountain chain is known for its lower temperature and
higher rainfall than surrounding areas, according to UNICEF. It’s
located more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) west of the capital city,
Khartoum.
Sunday’s landslide was one of the deadliest natural disasters in Sudan’s
recent history. Hundreds of people die every year in seasonal rains that
run from July to October. Last year’s heavy rainfall caused the collapse
of a dam in the eastern Red Sea Province, killing at least 30 people,
according to the U.N.
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In this Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, photo provided by the Sudan
Liberation Movement/Army, people gather at the site of a landslide
from Aug. 31, that wiped out the village of Tarasin in the Marrah
Mountains of Central Darfur, Sudan. (Sudan Liberation Movement/Army
via AP)
The tragedy came as a devastating civil war has engulfed Sudan after
tensions between the country’s military and the paramilitary Rapid
Support Forces, or RSF, exploded into open fighting in April 2023 in
the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.
‘Deprived of adequate assistance’
Most of the conflict-stricken Darfur region has become mostly
inaccessible for the U.N. and aid groups, given crippling
restrictions and fighting between Sudan's military and the RSF.
Aid group Doctors Without Borders has warned that multiple
communities in Darfur, including the Marrah Mountains, have been cut
off after more than two years of war and isolation, describing these
areas as “a black hole" in Sudan’s humanitarian response.
It said in a July report that people in these communities have been
“deprived of adequate assistance and neglected by aid actors for
over two years.”
The International Organization for Migration on Tuesday called for
safe access and scaling-up support to the area, saying in a
statement: “The people of Sudan cannot bear this never-ending
suffering alone.”
The Sudan Liberation Movement-Army, centered in the Marrah Mountains
area, is one of multiple rebel groups active in the Darfur and
Kordofan regions. It hasn’t taken sides in the war.
The Marrah Mountains are a rugged volcanic chain extending for 160
kilometers (100 miles) southwest of el-Fasher, an epicenter of
fighting between the military and the RSF. The area has turned into
a hub for displaced families fleeing fighting in and around the
besieged city.
On Monday, the RSF shelled el-Fasher, the military’s last stronghold
in Darfur, killing at least 18 people and injuring over 100 others,
according to the Sudan Doctors Network, a group of professionals
tracking the war.
The RSF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Alleged war crimes
The conflict in Sudan has killed more than 40,000 people, forced
more than 14 million to flee their homes and left some families
eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine swept parts
of the country.
It has been marked by gross atrocities including ethnically
motivated killing and rape, according to the United Nations and
rights groups. The International Criminal Court said it was
investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The conflict created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with
more than 30 million of the country’s 50 million population needing
assistance. Of those, over 630,000 live in famine-stricken areas in
Darfur and Kordofan regions, according to the international hunger
experts.
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