TAMBOUL, Sudan: On a street corner in the Sudanese town of Tamboul, dozens of people tap feverishly on their phones, calling loved ones and moving money through online apps.
At the center of their huddle is a bright white dish that connects to the Internet via Starlink, the satellite system owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company.
Starlink has become a lifeline for some in a country where the Internet has gone down regularly since war erupted last April between Sudan’s army and paramilitary force.
But the system, which can bring connectivity where there is no land-based network, is not officially available in Sudan.
Instead, the kits have made their way into the country “illegally via Libya, South Sudan and Eritrea,” one device reseller told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The cost for dishes and subscriptions can run into the hundreds of dollars, well out of reach for most Sudanese.
The fees are paid by Sudanese overseas or entrepreneurs like Mohamed Bellah, who runs an Internet cafe in a village some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Khartoum.
“You can make your money back in three days,” he told AFP, saying the investment was worth every penny.
The conflict between the army of Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has displaced millions and killed many thousands.
The banking system has collapsed and millions can now access money only via the Bank of Khartoum’s app, Bankak.
Officials have not offered an explanation for the blackouts, though a near-total shutdown in February was widely blamed on the RSF.
Now people like Issam Ahmed, huddled around the dish in Tamboul, some 140 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Khartoum, are reliant on Starlink.
He has been anxiously waiting for family news and financial support from his son, who works in Saudi Arabia.
“He sent me money through the bank app and I just transferred it to a currency dealer who will give me cash,” Ahmed told AFP.
Starlink, which is available in more than 70 countries, allows users on high-cost tariffs to take their dishes with them across national boundaries.
Musk made a big play of deploying the system in war-torn Ukraine and during protests in Iran in 2022.
But he has made no such gesture on Sudan and none of the tariffs advertised on Starlink’s website would allow the kind of usage seen there. SpaceX has not responded to AFP’s requests for clarification.
The Sudanese government, which is loyal to the army, banned Starlink devices in December.
But by that stage, the RSF had already started exploiting the business opportunities.
In Qanab Al-Halawein, a village southeast of Khartoum, RSF forces charge for access to their own dish.
They “set up the dish in the square every morning and leave in the evening with all the money they have made,” one resident told AFP on condition of anonymity.
An Internet cafe owner in another village said RSF personnel came “every day” and took 150,000 Sudanese pounds ($140 for currency dealers) in exchange for allowing the cafe to offer Starlink.
The army caught on and partly backtracked on its ban, announcing in late February it would donate some Starlink dishes to residents in Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum.
But the vast region of Darfur in Sudan’s west, home to around a quarter of its 48 million people, has been particularly hit by the war-time blackout.
Huge areas have been without any connection for nearly a year and use of the dishes has spread rapidly in a region largely controlled by the RSF.
“Without (Starlink) we could have never figured out how to receive money,” Mohammed Beshara told AFP via text message from the Otash camp in South Darfur.
But for Beshara and thousands like him, it takes money to get money.
He pays roughly $3 an hour for the connection and currency dealers take commissions for every Bankak transaction.
For desperate Tamboul residents like 43-year-old Arij Ahmed, paying commissions is a necessary sacrifice.
She walks five kilometers (three miles) with her 12-year-old son to the Starlink dish “every week, when my husband in Qatar gets his pay cheque and he sends us a transfer,” she told AFP.
And every week, she hopes to get enough money to survive until her next connection.
Smuggled Starlink dishes throw lifeline to some in war-torn Sudan
https://arab.news/25jcw
Smuggled Starlink dishes throw lifeline to some in war-torn Sudan
- Starlink has become a lifeline for some in a country where the Internet has gone down regularly since war erupted last April between Sudan’s army and paramilitary force
- The kits have made their way into the country “illegally via Libya, South Sudan and Eritrea,” one device reseller told AFP on condition of anonymity
Algeria drafts wartime mobilization bill amid regional tensions
The draft law is raising concerns among ordinary Algerians
ALGIERS: Algeria’s government proposed a law to streamline military mobilization amid tensions with neighboring countries Morocco and Mali, as well as former colonial ruler France.
The text, set to be unveiled on Wednesday by the North African country’s minister of justice, was approved by government ministers earlier this month.
Relations between France and Algeria sharply deteriorated last summer when France shifted its position to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara, a disputed territory claimed by the pro-independence Polisario Front, which receives support from Algiers and is based in refugee camps in southeastern Algeria.
The debate on the general mobilization law comes as Algeria’s strongman leader, army chief of staff Said Changriha, makes a series of trips to military regions in the border areas to oversee military manouvers.
It also comes after Algeria, which has one of Africa’s largest militaries, said earlier this month it had shot down a military drone near the country’s border with Mali. It was the first incident of its kind during growing tensions between the two countries that each govern a vast portion of the Sahara.
The text of the draft law, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, aims “to define the provisions for organizing, preparing and carrying out the general mobilization provided for in Article 99 of the Constitution,” which authorizes the mobilization of all the nation’s forces in the event of a major crisis.
The draft law is raising concerns among ordinary Algerians.
“I did not understand what’s behind this project,’ Aziza Sahoui, a retired teacher, said on social media. “I’m really worried, especially as it comes after the incursion of a Malian drone into our territory.”
Droughts in Iraq endanger buffalo, and farmers’ livelihoods
- “People have left ... We are a small number of houses remaining,” said farmer Sabah Ismail
- Buffalo have been farmed for centuries in Iraq for their milk
DHI QAR, Iraq: Iraq’s buffalo population has more than halved in a decade as the country’s two main rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, suffer severe droughts that endanger the livelihood of many farmers and breeders.
“People have left ... We are a small number of houses remaining,” said farmer Sabah Ismail, 38, who rears buffalo in the southern province of Dhi Qar.
“The situation is difficult ... I had 120 to 130 buffalo; now I only have 50 to 60. Some died, and we sold some because of the drought,” said Ismail while tending his herd.
Buffalo have been farmed for centuries in Iraq for their milk, and are mentioned in ancient Sumerian inscriptions from the region.
According to Iraqi marshland experts, the root causes of the water crisis driving farmers out of the countryside are climate change, upstream damming in Turkiye and Iran, outdated domestic irrigation techniques and a lack of long-term management plans.
The country has also endured decades of warfare, from conflict with Iran in the 1980s, through two Gulf Wars to the recent rise and fall of the Daesh group.
Located within the cultivable lands known as the Fertile Crescent that have been farmed for millennia, the Iraqi landscape has suffered from upstream damming of the Tigris and Euphrates and lower rainfall, threatening the lifestyle of farmers like Ismail and leading many to move to the cities.
Iraqi marshland expert Jassim Assadi told Reuters that the number of buffalo in Iraq had fallen since 2015 from 150,000 to fewer than 65,000.
The decline is “mostly due to natural reasons: the lack of needed green pastures, pollution, illness ... and also farmers refraining from farming buffalos due to scarcity of income,” Assadi said.
A drastic decline in crop production and a rise in fodder prices have also left farmers struggling to feed their animals.
The difficulty of maintaining a livelihood in Iraq’s drought-stricken rural areas has contributed to growing migration toward the country’s already-choked urban centers.
“This coming summer, God only knows, the mortality rate may reach half,” said Abdul Hussain Sbaih, 39, an Iraqi buffalo breeder.
UAE, Ecuador presidents discuss trade, regional issues in Abu Dhabi
- Talks also cover renewable energy, tourism, agriculture
- Daniel Noboa reaffirms Ecuador’s commitment to strengthening ties with UAE
LONDON: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and his Ecuadorian counterpart, Daniel Noboa, discussed strengthening cooperation in various fields during a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Noboa, who won reelection earlier this month, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to strengthening ties with the UAE.
The discussions focused on cooperation on trade, renewable energy, sustainability, investment, tourism and agriculture, the Emirates News Agency reported.
The two sides emphasized the importance of leveraging opportunities for mutual growth and shared views on regional and international issues to ensure stability and prosperity, the report said.
Sheikh Mohamed said the UAE-Ecuador relationship aimed to enhance economic growth and that Abu Dhabi was eager to strengthen its economic partnerships with Latin American countries.
Israeli wildfires force evacuations, road closures on Memorial Day
- The main Route 1 Jerusalem to Tel Aviv highway was closed near the fire site
- TV footage showed fires along the highway and people abandoning cars and running from the fires
JERUSALEM: Wildfires due to extreme heat and winds broke out near Jerusalem on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of communities and the closure of a main highway, as the country was observing Memorial Day and many Israelis visited gravesites.
The main Route 1 Jerusalem to Tel Aviv highway was closed near the fire site and police said three communities had been evacuated.
“Based on assessments of the fire’s spread, the district commander has instructed teams to prepare for the potential evacuation of additional communities, including deploying buses in case they are needed,” the police said in a statement.
TV footage showed fires along the highway and people abandoning cars and running from the fires.
Israel’s Fire and Rescue service said on Tuesday that due to extreme conditions that were increasing the likelihood of fires spreading and developing, it had prohibited the lighting of bonfires through May 7.
Israel’s 77th Independence Day begins tonight and there is a widespread custom to build bonfires and have barbecues. The rescue service said barbecues should only be lit in authorized areas.
Israeli media reported that 120 fire and rescue services had mobilized dozens of firefighting teams, aircraft and helicopters to try to contain the fires. They noted that 12 people were injured from smoke inhalation while Israel has asked at least five countries for help — Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy and Cyprus.
The military’s chief of staff said he had ordered Home Front Command, the Air Force and all IDF units to assist as needed to support the Israeli Police and Fire and Rescue Services.
Search and Rescue forces from the IDF Search and Rescue Brigade and Air Force fire trucks have been assisting in efforts to extinguish the fires in the Jerusalem Hills area and evacuate residents.
Sirens sounded at 0800 GMT on Memorial Day to commemorate fallen soldiers in Israel’s many wars since becoming a state in 1948.
UAE, Egypt sign MoU in ‘significant milestone’ for Arab space cooperation
- Agreement covers joint projects and knowledge exchange in areas such as satellite technology, earth observation and space research
- Signing coincided with the African Space Agency’s headquarters opening in Cairo
DUBAI: The UAE and Egypt have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost collaboration in peaceful space activities, marking what Emirati officials described as a “significant milestone” in Arab space cooperation, state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the 11th meeting of the Arab Space Cooperation Group and the “NewSpace Africa” conference in Cairo, with the UAE delegation led by Salem Butti Al-Qubaisi, director-general of the UAE Space Agency.
“The MoU represents a significant milestone in Arab space cooperation and reflects the UAE’s strategic vision, which sees space as a gateway to sustainable development, knowledge exchange and innovative solutions to shared challenges,” Al-Qubaisi said.
He highlighted that partnering with Egypt reinforced the UAE’s commitment to investing in people, localizing scientific expertise and developing a competitive, innovation-driven knowledge economy. He said that these goals aligned with broader regional ambitions for prosperity and stability.
The MoU establishes a long-term framework for cooperation in civil space programs, including the exchange of expertise, research and technology, and the implementation of joint projects supporting both countries’ sustainable development goals.
Planned areas of collaboration include communications technologies, satellite navigation and timing, Earth observation, remote sensing, space situational awareness, remote asset management and R&D in emerging and advanced technologies.
The UAE delegation also attended the opening ceremony of the African Space Agency’s new headquarters at Egyptian Space City, an event that drew senior officials, ministers and space-sector leaders from across Africa.
