SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: BBC – Letter from Africa: ‘Sudan’s revolutionaries offline but not silenced’

17/6/19: BBC – Letter from Africa: ‘Sudan’s revolutionaries offline but not silenced’, by Zeinab Mohammed Salih

 Sudanese journalist Zeinab Mohammed Salih describes life without the internet in Sudan, with protesters both unable to gather, nor communicate and share their “disappointment, frustration and anger at the turn of events,” following the June 3 massacre.

 Salih notes the reliance on SMS texts, including her own in order to send work to editors in London, although they  “would not always be delivered.”

 The Sudanese Professionals Association is also using text to mobilise, but not everybody is signed up, with some fearing that the texts are tracked by authorities.

 Salih then notes that accessing officers with good landline internet connection is difficult due to activist-erected barricades, forcing her sister to walk 3 hours to check an email.

 Activists are cut off from “trusted” news sources, only accessing military “mouthpieces” state TV and Saudi channel Al Hadath.

 Thus, people are reliant on “old-fashioned phone calls” to pass on information.