A group of internet rights bodies, have appealed to the Ethiopian government to restore internet access to areas in the country’s eastern region.
Their call was contained in a joint letter published in the wake of reports that cities across the Ogaden were in a state of internet outage following security skirmishes between the federal and regional authorities. “On behalf of the more than 150 organizations from over 50 countries that make up the keep it on the coalition, we implore you to keep the internet on in Ogaden,” their letter read in part.
Access Now, one of the key members of the coalition defines Internet Shutdown as: “an intentional disruption of the internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information.” The internet shutdown was confirmed by residents on Wednesday according to a Reuters report. Social media users had severally reported the situation during the security standoff that started last weekend.
The current situation in Ogaden is seen as one of the key challenges facing Prime Minister Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in containing ethnic tensions in parts of the country. All nine province thorughout the Ogaden have been without internet service, the administration of Abiy Ahmed would not comment for the reason behind that.
