Telecommunications and internet networks have been completely cut off in Sudan since last Tuesday (Reuters)
An official in Sudan’s telecommunications services blamed the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for cutting off communications across Sudan for the fourth consecutive day.
Al-Fateh Erwa, director of Zain-Sudan, the country’s largest telecommunications network, said the RSF cut off the company’s services by shutting down electricity generators from its main data center in the Jabra area of the capital Khartoum, cutting off communications throughout Sudan.
The official said in a video posted on social media that the service cut came at a time when the company began repairing and maintaining its network in Darfur state.
He denied that the network had received instructions from any party to cut off service in Darfur, and said that service there was cut off due to the war and the inability to deliver fuel and maintenance equipment and secure work teams.
The longer the network shutdown, the longer it will be delayed in Darfur and other Sudanese states, he said.
Catastrophic effects
The former Minister of Communications Hashim Hassab Al-Rasool, has confirmed to Al Jazeera Net, that what happened is the closure of telecommunications services under the instructions of the Rapid Support Forces for companies.
He explained that the current comprehensive cut used the same mechanism that the authority resorted to earlier during major events in Sudan, citing the interruption of services when the General Command sit-in was dispersed on June 3, 2019, as well as during the large protests that the country was witnessing.
“But this time, the closure was carried out through another new party, the de facto authority,” he said, warning of the “catastrophic” effects of the suspension of this service on the lives of Sudanese, as it causes disruption to the movement of the economy and people’s livelihood by stopping banking applications.
Telecommunications and internet networks have been partially shut down since last Friday afternoon in most states of Sudan, then returned in a fluctuating manner before being completely cut off by last Tuesday, in a new manifestation of the effects of the confrontations raging in the country since last April between the army and the Rapid Support Forces.
Kuwait’s Zain, South Africa’s MTN and Sudan’s Sudani provide telecommunications services in the country.
But according to telecommunications engineers, it does not have alternative backup operators for emergencies.
Al-Yurae/Al Jazeera + Social Media
