Incident
Ethiopia: internet and phone service cut across Tigray
Ethiopia's government cut internet and telephone service across the Tigray region when war broke out there in November 2020, leaving the region without communication for months and forcing reporters to travel there to learn what was happening.123
What happened
Fighting broke out in November 2020 between Ethiopia's federal government, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and forces aligned with the Tigray region's ruling party. The government cut internet and telephone service to the region at the start of the conflict, leaving it largely unreachable from outside. A freelance journalist who traveled to the regional capital in March 2021 said connectivity remained shut off and that even where partial service had been restored, calls and texts worked in the capital and surrounding areas but not uniformly across the wider region. The blackout meant that reporters could not confirm events inside Tigray by phone or online and instead had to travel there directly, at a time when access to the region was also restricted by the military.123
Ongoing as of the source reviewed, published in May 2021.123
What reason was given
Stated justification
What changed for reporting
Journalists said the shutdown left them unable to confirm events inside Tigray without traveling there in person, since calls, texts and internet access from outside the region did not work.1
Timeline
2020
Who acted
| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
|---|---|---|
| Abiy Ahmed | other | Prime Minister of Ethiopia |
Outlets and journalists
| Name | Kind | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| Maya Misikir | journalist | affected |
Sources
- Journalists struggle to work amid extended internet shutdowns in Myanmar, Ethiopia, Kashmir
- Six million silenced: A two-year internet outage in Ethiopia
- Ethiopia offers no date for end to blackout in Tigray region
Claims and evidence
Each numbered claim quotes the source it rests on.
- Description of where service had and had not returned by March 2021.
By the time I went to cover my story in March 2021, partial communications had been restored; calls and texts were working in the regional capital and surrounding areas, but not uniformly across the region.
Journalists struggle to work amid extended internet shutdowns in Myanmar, Ethiopia, Kashmir, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2021-05-03.Claim 542, checked 2026-09-22. - Direct statement on the state of connectivity in Tigray.
Internet connectivity remains shut off.
Journalists struggle to work amid extended internet shutdowns in Myanmar, Ethiopia, Kashmir, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2021-05-03.Claim 648, checked 2026-09-22. - CPJ grouping the Tigray blackout with two other extended shutdowns it tracked in the same period.
Journalists struggle to work amid extended internet shutdowns in Myanmar, Ethiopia, Kashmir
Journalists struggle to work amid extended internet shutdowns in Myanmar, Ethiopia, Kashmir, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2021-05-03.Claim 649, checked 2026-09-22.