Internet restricted after fighting breaks out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region

Internet and telephone services in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have been entirely cut off following recent clashes between regional forces and the national army. The state-owned telecom provider, Ethio Telecom, has completely halted their services, while the private firm Safaricom continues to function. NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, reported on X that a sub-national internet shutdown occurred in northern Tigray.

A humanitarian worker in Tigray's capital, Mekelle, confirmed the telecommunications outage. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) is believed to have ordered the communication blackout, though the group has not yet commented. Authorities in Ethiopia have not provided a statement regarding the matter.

The BBC has been unable to access Tigray and surrounding areas to report on the ground situation. Prior to this disruption, locating video and images of the current events has proven challenging. Most shared content has been from outside the region, with footage mainly originating from Mekelle. The scarcity of cash in Tigray over the past eight months has worsened, making it difficult for people to access ATMs.

Consequently, the lack of internet services would have a severe impact on people's daily lives, as they primarily rely on banking and mobile money applications for transactions.

Clashes between Tigrayan forces and federal troops erupted on Wednesday, raising concerns about a potential return to full-scale civil war. Panic buying has been evident, and a humanitarian source in the neighboring Afar region reported heavy fighting overnight, including drone strikes near the town of Abala. There have also been reports of fighting near the historic town of Lalibela in the Amhara region. The United States has advised against travel to all three regions.

In the past two years, Tigray faced total isolation from the outside world during a two-year conflict that ended in 2022. The scarcity of cash, food, and medicine pushed hundreds of thousands into a famine-like condition, resulting in an estimated 600,000 deaths. On Sunday, the TPLF formed an alliance with six other armed groups to overthrow the government. Its forces seized control of three airports from federal police on Wednesday. Following this seizure, Ethiopian Airlines has suspended all flights to Tigray.