Internet restricted after fighting breaks out in Ethiopia's Tigray region
During the two-year civil war in Tigray, the region was totally cut off from the outside world.
Internet cut off after fighting erupts in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
Internet and phone services have been disrupted in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region after clashes broke out this week between regional forces and the national army.
Services run by state-owned telecoms provider Ethio Telecom have been fully shut down, though those from the much smaller private company Safaricom are still working. Internet monitoring group NetBlocks earlier said on X that network data pointed to a sub-national internet shutdown in northern Tigray.
“Last night telecommunications got knocked out,” Duke Burbridge, an American humanitarian worker in Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Burbridge said cash had been scarce in Tigray for the past eight months, with people unable to use ATMs, and that the loss of internet services would be “devastating for everybody”.
Many people depend on banking and mobile money apps for transactions, with most using Ethio Telecom and Safaricom’s networks to reach these services.
Fighting between Tigrayan forces and their allies and Ethiopia’s federal troops began on Wednesday, raising tensions and prompting reports of panic buying.
During the two-year civil which ended in 2022, Tigray was completely cut off from the outside world.
Restricted access to cash, food and medicine drove hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions.