Sudan's Internet, Communications Outage in Several States

Since yesterday, large parts of the city of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State in central Sudan, and other cities in the country have witnessed a complete blackout of communications and Internet services.

The internet outage comes in conjunction with news of the army's return to the city of Wad Madani and violent clashes taking place with the Rapid Support Forces this morning in the streets of the city near the headquarters of the army's First Infantry Division.

The army said on Tuesday that its forces withdrew from the headquarters of the First Division in the city of Wad Madani, hours after the Rapid Support Forces announced control of the city, including the army headquarters and the government secretariat. The army stated that it would conduct an investigation to find out the circumstances of the withdrawal, according to the Arab News Agency.

The disruption of communication and the Internet imposed a heavy blackout on events, especially in the conflict areas in the capital, Khartoum, and the Kordofan and Darfur regions.

For more than a month, the cities of the Darfur region, west of the country, have been living in isolation from the world due to the interruption of communications networks and the Internet, and the population’s replacement with satellite Internet networks, which are available on a limited basis in some cafes and markets.

Telecommunications and Internet services in Sudan cover 3 networks: “MTN Sudan,” “Zain Sudan,” and “Sudani,” in addition to the Canar network, which provides Internet services only.