Tamboul: On a street corner in Tamboul, Sudan, dozens of people touch their phones, call loved ones, and transfer money through an online application.
Starlink has been a lifeline for some of the country’s internet, which has suffered constant internet outages since the start of fighting between the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces last April.
But the network, which can bring connectivity where there is no terrestrial network, is not officially available in Sudan.
Instead, the equipment entered the country “illegally through Libya, South Sudan, and Eritrea,” one person who sold the equipment told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Food and subscriptions can cost hundreds of dollars and are unaffordable for most Sudanese.
The fees are paid by expatriate Sudanese or entrepreneurs like Mohammed Bellah, who runs a cafe in a village 120 km south of Khartoum.
“You can get your money in three days,” he told AFP.
The conflict between the army of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daghlo, has displaced millions and killed thousands.
The banking system has collapsed and millions of people can now only access Bankak through the Khartoum Bank app.
Now people like Issam Ahmed, who lives around the fence in Tambul, 140 km southeast of Khartoum, rely on Starlink.
He hopes for family news and financial support from his son, who works in Saudi Arabia.
Starlink, which is available in more than 70 countries, allows users to carry their goods across national borders at an affordable price.
Musk’s system played a major role in spreading demonstrations in war-torn Ukraine and Iran in 2022.
But Sudan has not yet done so in Sudan, and there is no price advertised on the Starlink website that allows the features seen there. SpaceX did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Sudan’s pro-military government banned Starlink equipment in December.
But at that stage, RSF had taken advantage of the business opportunity.
In Kanab al-Halawein, southeast of Khartoum, RSF forces charge a fee to enter their compound.
“Every morning they build a fence in the square and in the evening they leave with all the money,” a resident told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A cafe owner in another village said RSF staff came “every day” and received 150,000 Sudanese pounds ($140 for currency traders) to allow the cafe to offer Starlink.
The army seized on the ban and partially backpedaled, announcing in late February that it would give residents of Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum, a taste of Starlink.
But Sudan’s western Darfur region, home to nearly a quarter of its 48 million people, has been particularly affected by the war shutdown.
Large areas have been out of touch for nearly a year, and container use has spread rapidly to RSF-controlled areas.
“Without (Starlink), we wouldn’t know how to get the money,” Mohammed Beshara told AFP via text message from the Otash camp in South Darfur.
But for Beshara and thousands like him, money is needed to get money.
It charges about $3 an hour for the connection and the forex trader gets a commission for every bank transaction.
For desperate Tambul residents like 43-year-old Arij Ahmed, paying bills is a necessary sacrifice.
She told AFP that she walked five kilometers (three miles) with her 12-year-old son to the Starlink restaurant, “every week my husband gets his salary in Qatar and sends money to us.”
Smuggled Starlink dishes throw lifeline to some in war-torn Sudan
