Ethiopia began restoring internet access in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, 2 July 2019, ten days after it was cut across the country following the killings of senior officials in Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa, the Associated Press reported in a story carried by Fortune. “Internet has been restored in Addis Ababa today and it will be restored in other locations across the country as well, step by step,” Cherer Aklilu of Ethio Telecom told the agency. He said internet packages that customers paid for but could not use would be refunded.
The internet was cut after attackers killed the Amhara regional president and two other officials on 22 June and the army chief and a retired general were shot dead in Addis Ababa the same night. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called the killings in Amhara a coup attempt. Security was tightened and many people were arrested. Ethio Telecom, the state-owned monopoly, had also cut the internet two weeks earlier during national school exams.
NetBlocks, a group that monitors internet access around the world, estimated that Ethiopia lost at least $4.5 million a day while the internet was down. “The government should stop cutting the Internet whenever some security or exam issues pop up,” said Abinet Haregu, who runs a delivery business. “This is a tactic that was tried and failed in the past.”
Ethiopia was not alone. Mauritania and Sudan had recently blocked the internet, Zimbabwe ordered a total shutdown in January during protests over fuel prices, and Congo and Gabon also cut service that month. The digital rights group Access Now counted 21 shutdowns in Africa in 2018, up from 13 in 2017.
Sources: Fortune (Associated Press)