CAIRO: Sudanese authorities said Thursday they recovered and buried the bodies of hundreds of people who died in a landslide over the weekend in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.
Mujib Al-Rahman Al-Zubair, head of the Civil Authority in the Liberated Territories, said in a video address shared with The Associated Press that the authority, along with help from local aid workers, was able to reach 375 bodies, but the remaining bodies remain trapped underground.
“May the victims of this devastating incident receive mercy,” he said as he and dozens of others gathered at the scene of the landslide to pray for the dead.
Al-Zubair is leading rescue missions, hoping to recover more bodies and find survivors despite the lack of equipment and resources.
The Aug. 31 landslide that followed days of heavy rainfall in Tarasin, in the Marrah Mountains, could have possibly killed as many as 1,000, Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Al-Nair, a spokesperson for the Sudan Liberation Movement-Army, previously told the AP. The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, had a similar death toll estimate, but said it’s hard to confirm the magnitude of the tragedy because the area is hard to reach.
The UN has said that efforts have been mobilized to support the impacted area, located more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) west of the capital, Khartoum.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a briefing on Thursday that an estimated 150 people from Tarseen and neighboring villages have been displaced.
OCHA and partners launched a rapid assessment and response mission Thursday, with teams from local NGOs, UN agencies and international groups reaching the site partly by donkey due to rough terrain, according to Dujarric. Their focus is to verify the number of people affected and deliver essential aid for up to 750 people, including medical kits and food. Mobile health clinics and emergency medical teams were also deployed to the area.
Al-Nair said in a statement Thursday that the landslide caused a “catastrophic humanitarian situation” that requires a rapid response from the international community to provide food and shelter for those who have lost everything.
The Marrah Mountains region is a volcanic area with a height of more than 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) at its summit. The mountain chain is a world heritage site and is known for its lower temperature and higher rainfall than its surroundings, according to UNICEF.
A small-scale landslide hit the area in 2018, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens of others, according to the now-disbanded United Nations-African Union mission in Darfur.
Sudan is already impacted by one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world caused by the ongoing civil war that erupted in April 2023 in the capital city, Khartoum. The conflict spread across the country after simmering tensions escalated between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. More than 40,000 people have been killed and as many as 12 million displaced.
Some areas in the country are struggling with famine and disease outbreaks such as cholera.
Sudanese authorities bury hundreds of victims of Darfur landslide
https://arab.news/ckepu
Sudanese authorities bury hundreds of victims of Darfur landslide
- “May the victims of this devastating incident receive mercy,” Al-Zubair said as he and dozens of others gathered at the scene of the landslide to pray for the dead
- The UN has said that efforts have been mobilized to support the impacted area
Syria nears anniversary of Assad’s fall amid renewed ‘deeply troubling’ abuses, UN warns
- Early steps by interim leadership ‘encouraging but only the beginning’ of long process of accountability, human rights chief says
- Concern that rising hate speech, both online and on the streets, has intensified violence against Alawite, Druze, Christian, Bedouin communities
NEW YORK: Syria is days away from marking the first anniversary of the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime, but the country’s interim authorities face mounting criticism over continuing abuses and a fragile security environment, the UN human rights chief said.
In a statement on Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said early steps by the interim leadership, including the creation of national commissions for transitional justice and missing persons, and investigative bodies examining violence in coastal areas and in Suweida, were “encouraging but only the beginning” of a long process of accountability.
Trials for suspects linked to last year’s coastal violence have begun, and a draft law on transitional justice has been announced. But Turk said the human rights situation remains deeply troubling.
According to the UN, hundreds of people have been killed over the past year in summary executions, arbitrary killings, and abductions. Victims include members of minority communities and individuals accused of ties to the former government. Deaths were attributed to gunfire, stabbings, blunt-force attacks, shelling, hand grenades and explosive remnants of war.
The UN said perpetrators include security forces under the interim authorities, armed groups aligned with them, remnants of the former government’s forces, local militias, and unidentified armed actors.
Investigators also documented reports of sexual violence, arbitrary detention, looting, destruction of homes, forced evictions, and property confiscations, along with restrictions on free expression and peaceful assembly.
Turk warned that rising hate speech, both online and on the streets, had intensified violence against Alawite, Druze, Christian, and Bedouin communities.
The past year has also seen repeated Israeli military operations inside Syrian territory, including incursions and the occupation of additional areas. The UN said it had received reports of civilian casualties in a recent Israeli strike near Damascus, along with arrests and home searches carried out during military actions.
Turk expressed concern that former armed groups have been integrated into new security forces without adequate human rights checks, raising the risk of repeat violations.
“Proper vetting and comprehensive security sector reform are essential to prevent individuals responsible for serious abuses from entering the security forces,” he said.
He urged Syria’s interim authorities to ensure independent and transparent investigations into all violations, past and present, and to hold those responsible to account.
“Accountability, justice, peace, and the security of all Syrians are absolute prerequisites for a successful transition,” Turk said, adding that victims must have access to remedies and reparation.
The UN Human Rights Office said its Damascus program is supporting efforts to advance inclusive transitional justice and strengthen the rule of law as Syria navigates a post-Assad transition.
