Internet and Phone Disruptions Leave Millions Struggling to Access Money, Information and Essential Services as Fighting Returns

Mekelle (WDN) — Tigray is once again being pushed into isolation. Internet and telephone services have been severely disrupted across the northern Ethiopian region following the latest outbreak of fighting, cutting millions of people off from essential communications at precisely the moment they most need them.

State-owned Ethio Telecom services have been completely disrupted, while the smaller Safaricom network has reportedly remained partially operational. Internet-monitoring group NetBlocks confirmed a regional disruption affecting northern Tigray. The consequences are potentially devastating.

Tigray is already facing a severe shortage of cash. Duke Burbridge, an American humanitarian worker in Mekelle, told the BBC that residents had struggled for months to access cash and ATMs, warning that the loss of telecommunications could be “devastating for everybody.”

For millions of people increasingly dependent on digital banking and mobile-money services, an internet shutdown is not simply an inconvenience. It can mean being unable to access money, contact relatives, obtain information, conduct business or reach help.

A Region Cut Off at the Worst Possible Moment

The blackout comes as fighting between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopia’s federal military has sharply escalated, raising fears that the region could again descend into a wider war.

That makes the communications disruption particularly alarming. When fighting intensifies, civilians need reliable access to information. Families need to know whether relatives are safe. Hospitals and humanitarian organizations need communications. Journalists need to document events. Aid agencies need to assess needs and reach vulnerable communities.

A communications blackout makes all of that harder. It also creates an information vacuum in which abuses can become harder to document and verify.

Tigray Has Seen This Before

The fear in Tigray is not simply theoretical. During the 2020–2022 war, the region was subjected to prolonged communications and internet restrictions. A UN investigation later documented the suspension of internet, telecommunications and banking services and described how those measures contributed to severe humanitarian consequences.

Human Rights Watch previously warned that a complete communications shutdown affecting millions of people in Tigray during armed conflict could cause extensive civilian harm and, depending on the circumstances, potentially constitute collective punishment. It also stressed that communications restrictions must satisfy requirements of necessity and proportionality under international law. That history makes the latest blackout particularly disturbing.

Who Ordered the Shutdown?

The responsibility for the latest disruption remains contested. Reuters reported that several sources attributed the shutdown to Tigray’s ruling authorities, while a source close to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front denied responsibility and blamed the federal government. Ethiopian federal authorities, Ethio Telecom and Safaricom had not immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment. That dispute matters. 

A communications blackout imposed during an armed conflict should not be treated as an ordinary technical failure. Whoever ordered or enabled it must be held accountable for its consequences.

Millions Should Not Become Hostages to a War

The people of Tigray have already endured years of war, displacement, hunger and the destruction of essential infrastructure.

They should not now be forced to live through another communications blackout while armed forces fight around them. Cutting civilians off from the outside world does not make them combatants. It makes them more vulnerable.

If authorities deliberately shut down communications across a civilian population without a lawful, necessary and proportionate justification, international human-rights standards raise serious concerns about freedom of expression, access to information and other fundamental rights. UN experts have previously condemned broad internet shutdowns as disproportionate measures.

The International Community Cannot Look Away

The international community should demand immediate clarification over who ordered the shutdown, why it was imposed and how long it is intended to continue. Independent humanitarian access and communications should be protected.

Journalists and human-rights monitors should be able to document what is happening. And civilians should not be deprived of basic communications simply because fighting has returned to their region.

Tigray has already experienced what happens when an entire population is cut off from the world. The lesson from the previous war should be clear: communications are not a luxury during conflict. They are a lifeline.

Whether the latest blackout was ordered by federal authorities, regional authorities or resulted from competing wartime actions, civilians should not pay the price. Tigray’s people have suffered enough. They should not be silenced again.

WardheerNews