Sudan war: Telecom tower in Khartoum bombed?

Social media sites posted contradictory videos on ‘the burning of the communications tower’ at the Blue Nile in El Manshiya neighbourhood in north-eastern Khartoum on Saturday afternoon. Many said the tower was bombed. The Dabanga Verification Team checked the reports.

While the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) did not issue an official statement on the El Manshiya communications tower being hit, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were quick to accuse the Sudanese Air Force of bombing the building, especially as the area is under control of the militia, since the day of war broke out, more than 15 months ago.

A number of social media accounts supporting the army responded with counter-accusations, claiming that the militia bombed the tower in revenge of the death* of one of the most prominent RSF field commanders in central Sudan, Lt Col Abdelrahman El Bishi, in Sennar last week.

Various social media users, including RSF officers, circulated a 31-second video clip filmed from a vehicle crossing the El Manshiya Bridge from Khartoum North to Khartoum, showing the upper floors of the communications tower ablaze.

The Al Jazeera Arabic page on Sudan posted the video, attributing it to social media sites.

Around sunset on Saturday, journalist Tarig El Tijani, a correspondent for the Turkish Radio Television (TRT) corporation, refuted the news. He posted a 40-second video clip recorded from a distance in a neighbourhood in the east of Khartoum.

The footage shows the communications tower, which does not appear to be on fire. El Tijani also stated that the area did not witness any battles throughout the day.

‘Middle floors only’

The Dabanga Verification Team reviewed the two videoclips and comments of independent sources about the alleged incident. Team members also contacted several people present in the eastern neighbourhoods of Khartoum.

The team assumes that as the communications tower is located in an area completely controlled by the RSF, it seems illogical for the paramilitaries to attack the place where their forces are deployed. The RSF often carries out random shelling operations on areas controlled by the army, and it happened before that their missiles fell in areas under its control, causing losses among its fighters. It seems clear from the accompanying sound, despite its limitations, that the person recording the scene from the El Manshiya Bridge is a member of the RSF.

The Sudanese Air Force previously bombed other important targets in Khartoum state due to the presence of the RSF, such as the Nile Petroleum Company Tower, the Republican Palace, the Jeili Oil Refinery north of Khartoum, the General Intelligence Service offices, and other buildings.

All eyewitnesses the Dabanga team spoke with were unable to approach the tower. They observed the tower from relatively distant places.

The outcome of the research indicates that fire broke out above the middle floors of the communications tower but did not spread to the rest of the building.

Although the extent of the damage to the tower has not yet been determined, it is certain that the building was not completely destroyed, regardless of who bears responsibility for bombing the building and starting the fire.

In early February, following widespread communications outages in the country, the Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority (TPRA) accused the RSF of shutting down work at the data centres of the Sudani and MTN providers, while the paramilitary group accused the air force of bombing vital sites and infrastructure, including telecommunications towers in Khartoum state and surroundings.

Tallest building

The tower belongs to the TPRA and was built in 2010 when the authority was still known as the National Telecommunications Corporation, which was established in 1996 and was replaced by the Authority in 2018.

The building opens on Nile Street, along the Blue Nile, where the Republican Palace and also a large number of ministries and major government agencies are located. It consists of 29 floors with a height of 110 meters, making it the tallest building in Sudan.

In addition to the Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority, the building houses the offices of the National Information Centre. Years ago, rumours claimed that it also housed ‘an eavesdropping centre’ of the security apparatus and similar units affiliated with the Ministry of Defence. Part of the building is also used commercially, by companies and private institutions.

The communications tower occupies a strategic location at the southern end of Nile Street. It is located 500 meters north of the El Manshiya Bridge, entirely under RSF control, and four km south of the Kober Bridge, whose entrances are controlled by the SAF from both sides.

The building lies about six km east of the Presidential Palace, four km from the SAF Command, and five km of Khartoum International Airport. Three km to the southwest, in the El Riyadh neighbourhood, the RSF have set up their Khartoum command, in the buildings of the Operations Authority of the infamous Sudanese Security and Intelligence Service (NISS) during the regime of Omar Al Bashir (1989-2019).

After being managed by the Ministry of Communications for many years, the ruling military council decided in August 2019, days before the formation of a new civilian government, to transfer the Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority to the Ministry of Defence. However, after widespread criticism, the military backed down and transferred the authority to the Sovereignty Council.

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* El Bishi, in charge of the Sennar and Blue Nile sectors, was killed on Thursday in a SAF air strike targeting an RSF convoy on their way from Maiurno to Sennar town.