Communications networks and the Internet have been completely cut off in Sudan since last Tuesday (Reuters)
A Sudanese communications services official held the Rapid Support Forces responsible for cutting off communications throughout Sudan for the fourth day in a row.
Al-Fatih Orwa, director of the Zain-Sudan telecommunications network, which is the largest telecommunications network in the country, said that the Rapid Support Forces cut off the company’s services by stopping the electricity generators at its main data center in the Jabra area in the capital, Khartoum, which led to the cutting off of communications in all of Sudan.
The official stated - in a video clip 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, maintenance equipment, and secure work teams.
He added that the longer the network was down, the more delayed it would be to repair it in Darfur and other Sudanese states.
Disastrous effects
The former Minister of Communications, Hashem Hasab al-Rasoul, confirmed to Al Jazeera Net that what happened was a closure of communications services on instructions from the Rapid Support Forces for companies.
He explained that the current comprehensive shutdown used the same mechanism that the authority resorted to earlier during major events in Sudan, citing the cutting 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.
He added, "But this time, the closure was carried out through another new body, which is the de facto authority," warning of the "catastrophic" effects of stopping this service on the lives of Sudanese, as it disrupts the movement of the economy and people's livelihood by stopping banking applications.
Communications and Internet networks have partially stopped 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.
The Kuwaiti "Zain", the South African "MTN", and the Sudanese "Sudani" companies provide telecommunications services in the country, but - according to communications engineers - they do not have alternative backup operators for emergency situations.
Source: Al Jazeera + social networking sites