Sudan rebels launch rescue effort, insist over 1,000 died in landslide
September 3, 2025 (JEBEL MARRA) – A Sudanese rebel group that dispatched rescue teams to a massive landslide in Darfur is insisting its initial reports that more than 1,000 people were killed are accurate, as an independent aid group attempts to reach the remote site.
Teams from the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Abdel Wahid Nur (SLM-AW), arrived in the village of Tursin in the Jebel Marra mountains on Wednesday. Video footage released by the group showed volunteers using shovels and rudimentary tools to dig through mud and rubble in a desperate search for survivors.
The group is standing by its report from Monday that the landslide, which occurred at the end of last month, killed all but one of the village’s residents. “The number of victims in the incident exceeds a thousand dead,” Mujeeb al-Rahman al-Zubair, the head of the SLM-AW’s civil administration, reaffirmed in a statement.
A volunteer with the rescue effort stated that about 65% of the victims were people displaced by Sudan’s ongoing conflict who had sought refuge in the mountainous area. The SLM-AW also reported the destruction of some 1,500 homes and the loss of over 4,000 head of livestock.
The high death toll claimed by the rebels contrasts with information from international bodies. The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) has so far only reported tracking approximately 150 people displaced by the landslide and has not issued a casualty count.
An official from the aid group Solidarity International told the BBC that a multi-sectoral assessment team is expected to reach the affected area on Thursday. The international team is reportedly travelling from two separate locations: Golo, an SLM-AW-held town in Central Darfur, and Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, which is controlled by the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Rescue and verification efforts are complicated by the region’s rugged terrain and heavy seasonal rains, which require the use of pack animals to reach the site. Al-Zubair warned of the risk of further landslides amid the downpours and said the SLM-AW was planning to evacuate residents from other vulnerable areas.