El Fasher , May 15(Darfur 24)
A number of satellite Internet devices owners “Starlink” in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, confirmed that they received instructions on Wednesday from Sudanese Army Intelligence to close the stores of Internet and not operate the devices until further notice.
This comes at a time when the Zain telecommunications network service has been absent for days, in addition to the frequent interruption of the Sudani network and the fluctuation of its services as the battles in the city continue for the fourth day in a row.
The owner of the Wi-Fi stores in the livestock market in the south of the city, Al-Amin Omar, told “Darfur 24” that people in civilian clothes came to his shop this morning and asked him to stop the device from working and not to operate it, despite the fact that he has a permit to practice work from several parties and pays monthly fees for it estimated at more than 40 thousand pounds.
He pointed out that the group told him that the matter was a directive from the Military Intelligence Department, but they refused to give the reasons, expecting the reasons to be the battles taking place in the city.
For his part, the owner of Wi-Fi stores in the Abshuk camp for displaced people, north of the city, who preferred to withhold his name, confirmed to “Darfur 24” the interruption of communications networks in the region due to the lack of power to the towers, which made citizens use Wi-Fi devices and depend on them for financial transfers.
The number of Wi-Fi shops operating in El Fasher is estimated at about 65, spread across the neighborhoods of the south of the city, Zamzam Camp, Abshuk, the Grand Market, and the Livestock Market, and they are completely relied upon due to the weakness of the local communication networks.
A military source led by the 6th Infantry Division of El Fasher “Darfur 24” confirmed the validity of a directive to stop Wi-Fi devices after discovering that some collaborators were communicating with the Rapid Support Forces, monitoring the movement of army vehicles and joint forces, and updating their whereabouts through these stores.
He said that military intelligence personnel arrested 12 people with close ties to the Rapid Support Forces who confessed to corresponding with field commanders to direct strikes in locations where the army and the joint force were gathered and based, in addition to arresting a number of armed elements who had infiltrated the city using various means of monitoring and follow-up via Wi-Fi devices.