A high-ranking Ethiopian government official has been quoted as to saying the process of restoring internet in the war-torn Tigray region has “no timeline”.
Reports indicate that Ethiopia has shut down the internet at least 22 times since 2016.
Speaking at the U.N’s annual Internet Governance Forum in Addis Ababa this week, Belete Molla, the country’s minister for innovation and technology, said: “the Tigray’s internet service will be restored along with its phone and electricity services, though no timeline has been set for those goals.”
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“Tigray, home to more than 5 million people, has been mostly without internet, telecommunications and banking since war broke out between federal government troops and forces led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in November 2020,” Associated Press reports.
The warring parties in Ethiopia agreed to a truce earlier this month that compels the federal government to restoring Tigray’s basic services. However, the months-long communications blackout in Tigray is yet to be lifted.
According to World Food Programme, while help has started to reach the region, access to parts of Tigray remains “constrained” despite the ceasefire.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed defended the internet blackout in Tigray, arguing that the internet has “supported the spread of disinformation as Ethiopia dealt with an armed rebellion in the northern part of the country.”
The blackout in Tigray “is the world’s longest uninterrupted shutdown”, according to Brett Solomon, the executive director of Access Now.