South Darfur State: Thousands are
feared dead following a landslide in Tarsin Village, Jabel Marra.
The African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) extends sincere condolences to the families of the victims and to the residents of Tarsin village, located within the Jebel Marra range on the border between Central and South Darfur states, following the recent landslide that is believed to have claimed at least 1,000 lives.
ACJPS urges the Sudanese authorities and the conflicting parties; the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), along with their allied military groups, to fulfill their legal obligations by ensuring that their official media platforms refrain from disseminating false information. Specifically, it is crucial that they do not deny the occurrence of the disaster in the village of Tarsin in Jebel Marra. Such actions are morally harmful to the victims and their families, and they undermine human solidarity. Additionally, it is vital to guarantee unrestricted and swift rescue operations and to facilitate humanitarian access to the area, especially considering the presence of civilians underground.
Tarsin is located in the Sony area adjacent to the Omoh Urban Center, towards the south of Jabal Marra, within South Darfur State. The village falls under the jurisdiction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) faction headed by Abdul Wahid Noor in Western Sudan. Furthermore, the village of Tarsin has become a site hosting numerous displaced individuals from various regions following the outbreak of war on April 15, 2023.
ACJPS gathered information from several reliable sources, including Mr. Mohamed Abdul Rahman Alnaair, the spokesperson for the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA), as well as human rights defenders from South Darfur, many of whom have engineering backgrounds and expertise in the Jabal Marra area that on 31 August 2025, at around 7:30 pm, residents of Tarsin village witnessed a landslide that buried many parts of the village following days of heavy rainfall.
Mr. Alnair informed ACJPS that he has been in contact with the person responsible in their area of control, who visited the village of Tarsin on September 3, 2025. He stated that the number of victims may reach up to 1000 individuals, but local volunteers managed to recover approximately 100 bodies from beneath the rubble today. Mr. Alnaair gave a brief background of Tarsin, a small farming village surrounded by guards. The village was scarcely populated, with fewer than 100 houses. Still, since the 2016 attacks by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their allied militias in El-Fasher and other areas of Darfur, the displaced have sought refuge in Tarsin, transforming the area into a site of ongoing displacement over the past nine years. Mr. Alnaair has called on humanitarian organizations to intervene and provide aid to the people in Tarsin.
Mr. Saif Elden Adam, a dedicated human rights defender from South Darfur, shared that locals using primitive tools have managed to recover a few bodies so far. However, he emphasized the need for more advanced rescue efforts and professional teams to better assist in this urgent situation.
The West Sudan Region, including Darfur and Kordofan, has experienced two landslides over the past six years, highlighting the need for careful monitoring. In 2018, Sudan witnessed significant landslides in Derbat in Jabel Marra and Babanusa in West Kordofan. These events serve as a reminder of the importance of understanding the geological factors at play. Mr. Khalid Abdallah, an engineer and human rights defender, shared with ACJPS that these events could be due to various reasons, including the movement of tectonic plates that shape the region's surface. He mentioned a landslide in Darbat near Tarsin in 2018, which may have been influenced by these tectonic movements, especially since Jebel Marra is home to a dormant volcano. Mr. Khalid emphasized that a specialized team should visit the area to collect soil, water, and rock samples for analysis, to uncover the actual causes. He also pointed out that Jebel Marra is connected to a mountain range extending into West Darfur, making it crucial to identify the leading causes of these landslides to establish an early warning system through ongoing monitoring. Additionally, Mr. Alnaair confirmed the landslide in Driba in 2018, further underscoring the importance of vigilance in the region.