Martin Griffiths, the UN Relief Coordinator, has deemed Sudan’s internet shutdown as “unacceptable” and is demanding immediate rectification. The blackout has made it difficult to communicate, perform financial transactions, access basic services, and cater to humanitarian needs.
Impacted telecommunication companies include MTN, Zain Sudan, and the state-run Sudatel Telecom Group, disconnecting over 14 million internet users nationwide. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) predicts that nearly 25 million Sudanese will require humanitarian aid in 2024. This projection coincides with Sudan’s most significant aid needs and its current internet outage.
Surprisingly, the Rapid Support Forces, a Sudanese paramilitary group locked in battle with the Sudan Army, has reportedly been using Starlink technology since August 2023.
Starlink is operational in eight African countries, including Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and it partners with South African telecoms company, MTN Group. However, in countries like Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Botswana, it is considered illegal with distribution subjected to penalties.
Following the internet blackout in Sudan, the satellite internet service Starlink has purportedly seen a rise in usage. Users are said to import Starlink via South Sudan and Chad, through locations controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Reportedly, in one state, traders sympathetic to the RSF are charging as much as $2 per hour for civilians to use Starlink’s services. The RSF is believed to be behind the internet shutdown following connectivity issues experienced in their stronghold, Western Darfur.
While engineers from the telecommunications company Zain Sudan have struggled to restore connections in Darfur due to unsafety and fuel and electricity shortages, the company’s CEO, Alfatih Erwa, declared, “The RSF insisted they would shut down the internet from the entire country if we did not bring the internet back to Darfur.”
