A landslide has killed at least 370 people in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan. Antoine Gérard, the UN’s deputy humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, said that it was hard to assess the scale of the incident.
The armed group in control of the affected area revealed earlier that as many as 1,000 people could have died. In a statement, the army disclosed that it was hard to assess the exact death toll as the area was very hard to reach.
According to the army, days of heavy rain triggered the landslide, which left just one survivor. Gerald disclosed that getting aid quickly to the affected area would be difficult as the landslide had levelled much of the village of Tarseen.
He lamented that the army does not have helicopters, as everything goes in vehicles on very bumpy roads. He reiterates the long hours to cross valleys and bring in trucks as challenges faced in the affected area.
Read also: Congo, Chad, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia hit by U.S. travel ban
Talking about the landslide, Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, described the landslide as a humanitarian tragedy. The governor appeals to international humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance for the critical tragedy.
The civil war between the Sudanese army and the RSF has plunged the country into famine. The war, which broke out in April 2023, has led to accusations of genocide in the western Darfur region.
Estimates for the death toll from the civil war vary significantly, but a US official last year, estimated up to 150,000 people had been killed since hostilities began in 2023.
