Crisis in Sudan: Protesters Cut Off From Rest of the World

By Tasia Jensen

18 June 2019 at 1:13 pm

A military coup. A pro-democracy uprising. A brutal protest crackdown. And now an internet blackout.

Sudan has been in upheaval since April, when President Omar al-Bashir was ousted and later replaced by a military council that agreed to move toward democracy but has been crushing dissent.

More than 100 people have been killed, with up to 40 bodies pulled from the Nile River earlier this month. Now the military junta has cut off internet access to stop protesters from organizing and documenting human rights abuses.

As a result, members of the Sudanese diaspora have taken to social media to spread the story of what’s happening in their home country. Shahd Khidir, a social media influencer born in Sudan who now lives in New York, tells The Daily Beast about what it’s like to be cut off from the land and the people she loves.