Category: 2. World

More than 1,000 people were killed in a landslide in western Sudan on Sunday, according to a rebel group that controls the area.

The landslide, which followed heavy rain, destroyed a village in the Marra mountains area of western Sudan and left only one survivor, said the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM).

“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than 1,000 individuals, with only one survivor,” its statement said.

The movement, which controls the area located in the Darfur region, appealed to the UN and international aid agencies to help recover the bodies of victims. The village “has now been completely levelled to the ground”, the statement said.

Footage shared by the Marra Mountains news outlet showed a flattened area between mountain ranges and a group of people searching the area.

Sudan’s civil war, now in its third year, has plunged Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with famine declared in parts of Darfur.

Fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has escalated in Darfur, especially in El Fasher, since the army took control of the capital, Khartoum, in March.

The Marra Mountains area has turned into a hub for displaced families fleeing fighting in and around El Fasher. The SLM has mostly stayed out of the fighting but controls parts of Sudan’s tallest mountain range.

Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, called the landslide a “humanitarian tragedy that goes beyond the borders of the region”.

“We appeal to international humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone,” he said in a statement.

Much of Darfur – including the area where the landslide occurred – remains largely inaccessible to international aid organisations because of ongoing fighting, severely limiting the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance.

The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, including about 4 million from the capital alone.

Hundreds have been reported killed in recent months, and civilians in El Fasher say the paramilitaries are currently waging their fiercest ever assault on the North Darfur state capital.

The war has been marked by atrocities including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The international criminal court has said it is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

TIANJIN, China (AP) — China plans to accelerate the creation of a development bank and set up an international platform for energy cooperation, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Monday at a summit that represents an emerging challenge to U.S. global leadership with the participation of Russia and India.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the leaders meeting in Tianjin, in northern China, for the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The security forum was originally seen as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia and has grown in size and influence over the years.

Xi is attempting to expand the scope of the SCO. He announced initial plans for a development bank run by the organization, introduced a cooperation platform for green and energy industries and pledged $1.4 billion in loans over the next three years to the organization’s members.

Xi also said he was opening the way for SCO member states to use China’s BeiDou satellite system, an alternative to the GPS system controlled by the U.S.

Putin expressed support for Xi’s initiatives, saying he believes the SCO “could take on the leading role in efforts to form a more just and equal system of global governance in the world.”

Laos joined the SCO as a partner, a designation short of full membership, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters. The combined group of members and partners has reached 27, representing countries in Central and Southeast Asia, along with China, India, Russia, Iran and others.

China on message

Xi stressed countries should reject Cold War thinking, rival power blocs and bullying and instead protect the U.N.-centered international system. He called for a world order with multiple power centers and a more just and balanced global governance system.

“The shadows of Cold War mentality, bullying, are not dissipating, and there are new challenges that are increasing, not diminishing,” said Xi, who has consistently spoken against what he calls a Cold War mentality, which is his way of referring to the tough approach to China by the U.S.

“The world has entered a new period of tumultuous change and global governance has arrived at a new crossroads,″ he said.

Alfred Wu, a professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, explained that Xi is seeking “to provide an alternate world order, because the U.S.-led world order is very much in decline.”

Putin echoed those themes in his own address and expressed support for Xi’s proposal “to create a new, more effective and functional system of global governance.”

Founded in 2001, the SCO now includes Russia, Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observer states, and 14 other countries, including several from the Middle East, serve as “dialogue partners.”

The summit comes days ahead of a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s World War II surrender.

Regional relationships

On Sunday, Xi met with Modi and the two leaders vowed to resolve differences surrounding a border dispute, which led to a freeze in relations in 2020.

Putin arrived for the summit Sunday and will attend the parade Wednesday. Modi will not stay for the parade.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who did not attend the SCO summit, will be present for the military parade, along with the leader of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

Putin spoke to Xi on Sunday, ahead of the bilateral talks the two were scheduled to hold Tuesday. He updated the Chinese leader on the Russia-U.S. talks on the Ukraine war which were held in Alaska last month.

Development policy has been a large part of the messaging in recent days. Putin, in an interview released Saturday by China’s news agency Xinhua, said Russia and China were jointly “against discriminatory sanctions” that hurt the socioeconomic development of the world at large.

Russia, alongside its Chinese partners, supports the reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, he said.

“It is essential to end the use of finance as an instrument of neocolonialism, which runs counter to the interests of the global majority,” Putin said.

Security is still key

While China is eager for the SCO to take a larger role on the global stage, it remains to be seen how effective the organization can be. Its focus in the past has been on propping up the security initiatives of its member states. China said it is effective in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.

Those threats are what Beijing cited after it swept more than 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other largely Muslim minorities into camps, prisons, and other detention facilities in 2018.

“Their anti-terrorism exercises are more about countering threats to authoritarian regimes rather than countering terrorism in its own right,” said Derek Grossman, a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California.

Even if the SCO summit’s reach and influence is ultimately limited, one thing is clear, he said: “China is on a diplomatic uptick and the U.S. is self destructing.”

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Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

A landslide has killed at least 1,000 people in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan, according to the armed group the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.

Days of heavy rain triggered the landslide on Sunday, which left just one survivor and “levelled” much of the village of Tarasin, the group said in a statement.

The movement has appealed for humanitarian assistance from the United Nations and other regional and international organisations.

Many residents from North Darfur state had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region, after war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forced them from their homes.

Darfur’s army-aligned governor, Minni Minnawi, called the landslide a “humanitarian tragedy”.

“We appeal to international humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene and provide support and assistance at this critical moment, for the tragedy is greater than what our people can bear alone,” he said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

Pictures show two gullies on the side of a mountain which converge at a lower level where the village of Tarasin was.

Civil war that broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF has plunged the country into famine and 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. About 12 million have fled their homes.

Factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, which controls the area where the landslide occurred, have pledged to fight alongside the Sudanese military against the RSF.

Many Darfuris believe the RSF and allied militias have waged a war aimed at transforming the ethnically mixed region into an Arab-ruled domain.

Additional reporting by Anne Soy.

TIANJIN, China (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen clasping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hand with the gusto of an old friend, bursting into his trademark hearty laughter. Putin grinned and chuckled, while Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a measured smile as the three leaders huddled Monday.

The trio, ringed by watchful interlocuters, chatted animatedly for a few seconds.

This happened moments before the leaders lined up for a group photo during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in northern China’s Tianjin.

The summit represents an emerging challenge to US global leadership. The security forum, originally seen as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia, has grown in size and influence over the years.

Xi stressed Monday that countries should reject Cold War thinking, rival power blocs and bullying, and instead protect the U.N.-centered international system.

He called for a world order with multiple power centers and a more just and balanced global governance system. 

As a select group of world leaders prepares to roll into Beijing for a massive military parade on Wednesday, one is traveling in his signature armored green train: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The old-fashioned train has become a symbol of Kim’s dynasty and his secluded nation. It has also long been the subject of intrigue, carrying generations of the Kim family across the country and on rare international trips.

North Korean state media Rodong Sinmun confirmed early Tuesday that Kim’s train had crossed the border into China, with photos of the leader smiling on board the train, sitting at a wooden table with a North Korean flag behind him. He’s accompanied by senior officials including Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, according to the country’s foreign ministry.

Kim’s father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, was reportedly averse to flying and relied heavily on the train, according to Reuters.

In one instance in 2002, Russian state media showed images of the train – green with yellow striping – when Kim Jong Il visited Russia during a brief period of relaxed sanctions that allowed greater engagement with the outside world.

Both Kim’s father and grandfather reportedly hosted lavish dinners abroad. One account published in 2002 by Russian official Konstantin Pulikovsky claimed that the train carried cases of Bordeaux and Beaujolais wine from Paris, and that passengers feasted on live lobster and pork barbecue.

But that brief period of openness and luxury ended quickly, with international sanctions clamping back down in 2003. Though very little information from the isolated nation reaches the outside world now, reports indicate severe impoverishment and malnourishment throughout much of the country.

The train is also famously slow-moving and tight on security. It’s so heavily armored that it travels at an average speed of 60 kilometers an hour (about 37 miles mph), according to a 2009 report in South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.

It contained conference rooms, an audience chamber and bedrooms and featured satellite phone connections and flat screen televisions, the paper reported at the time. In Kim Jong Il’s time, some 20 stations were built for the family train, the paper said.

Kim has used this train on several trips abroad, though he has also previously traveled by plane and private jet.

Kim rode the train during his last international visit – a 2023 trip to Russia’s far east to meet with his counterpart Vladimir Putin. Photos released by state media at the time offered a glimpse into the locomotive, showing polished wooden floors and an ornately decorated white doorway.

State media footage released in 2022 showed Kim working in his office on board the train, and also relaxing on board while smoking a cigarette in a short-sleeved shirt, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

And during a 2018 trip when Kim met Chinese leader Xi Jinping, footage by North Korean state media showed Chinese officials boarding the train to greet Kim. The delegations held talks on board, sitting on two rows of pink couches, photos showed.

Besides international travel, the train has also been featured in state propaganda, with the Kim family going on long train journeys to meet ordinary North Koreans, Reuters reported.

A life-sized model of one of the train’s carriages is displayed in a mausoleum outside the North Korean capital Pyongyang, where the remains of Kim’s father and grandfather are kept.

JAKARTA/GENEVA: Thou­sands rallied across Indonesia on Monday as the military was deployed in the capital after six people were killed in nationwide protests sparked by anger over lavish perks for lawmakers.

At least 500 protesters gathered outside the nation’s parliament in Jakarta, watched by soldiers and police throughout the day, before dissipating after President Prabowo Subianto warned protests should end by sundown. But elsewhere protests were more volatile.

In Gorontalo city on Sulawesi island protesters clashed with police, who responded with tear gas and water cannon, according to a journalist. In Bandung on the main island Java, protesters hurled Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at the provincial council building.

Thousands more rallied in Palembang on Sumatra island and hundreds gathered separately in Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on the main island of Java and Makassar on Sulawesi, according to journalists around the country.

UN urges investigation over use of force

“Our main goal is to reform the parliament,” protester and university student Nafta Keisya Kemalia, 20, said outside parliament before the protest ended. “Do they want to wait until we have a martial law?” The deadly protests, which began last week over MP housing allowances nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta, have forced President Prabowo Subianto and parliament leaders to make a U-turn over the perks.

Demonstrations began peacefully, but turned violent against the nation’s elite paramilitary police unit after footage showed one of its teams running over 21-year-old delivery driver Affan Kurniawan late Thursday.

Protests have since spread from Jakarta to other major cities, in the worst unrest since Prabowo took power less than a year ago. Police set up checkpoints across the capital on Monday, while officers and the military conducted city-wide patrols and deployed snipers in key locations, while the usually traffic-clogged streets were quieter than usual. At least one group, the Alliance of Indonesian Women, said it had cancelled its planned protest because of heightened security.

Schools and universities in Jakarta were holding classes online until at least Tuesday, and civil servants based in the city were asked to work from home.

On Monday Prabowo paid a visit to injured police at a hospital where he criticised protesters. “The law states that if you want to demonstrate, you must ask for permission, and permission must be granted, and it must end at 6:00 pm,” he said.

UN urges probe

The United Nations on Monday called for investigations into alleged use of disproportionate force after six people were killed in protests across Indonesia sparked by anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks.

“We are following closely the spate of violence in Indonesia in the context of nationwide protests over parliamentary allowances, austerity measures, and alleged use of unnecessary or disproportionate force by security forces,” said UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.

“We stress the importance of dialogue to address the public’s concerns,” she said in a statement.

The UN rights office is calling for prompt, thorough and transparent investigations into “all alleged violations of international human rights law, including with respect to use of force”, she said.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025