Two-Year Internet Outage In Ethiopia Continues (reuters.com) 18
Zecharias Zelalem writes via Reuters: Few have been spared the effects of a nearly two-year internet and phone shutdown in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, which has been cut off since fighting erupted between Tigrayan rebels and government forces in November 2020. The conflict resumed last month after a months-long humanitarian truce, dashing hopes for communications to be restored. Even the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who hails from Tigray, said he had been unable to reach his relatives back home, or send them money. "I don't know even who is dead or who is alive," Tedros told a recent news conference in London.
As fighting continues in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says shutdowns are needed to curb violence, but critics accuse authorities of using the internet as a weapon of war. "Access to communications and other basic services, and most importantly humanitarian assistance, is explicitly used as a bargaining chip by the Ethiopian government," said Goitom Gebreluel, a political analyst specialising in Horn of Africa affairs. "It is used as leverage against both Tigray and the international community." In Ethiopia, sporadic internet and phone blackouts have been used as "a weapon to control and censor information," the group said, making it difficult for journalists and activists to document alleged rights crimes, and for aid to be delivered.
In Tigray's regional capital, Mekelle, emergency workarounds such as satellite phones have become a vital tool for aid agency operations. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also maintains a satellite phone service for local residents -- giving them a way to get a message to loved ones. So far this year, the ICRC has facilitated some 116,000 phone calls and oral messages "between family members separated by conflict and violence," said spokesperson Alyona Synenko. With almost half of the region's six million people in severe need of food, the shutdown as well as road blockades have hampered humanitarian aid deliveries, according to the U.N. World Food Program. The lack of mobile phone networks has also "crippled both the emergency and regular health monitoring systems," a WHO spokesperson said in emailed remarks. The only way to communicate is "via paper reports that need to be delivered by hand. All meetings have to be held in person."
As fighting continues in Tigray and elsewhere in Ethiopia, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says shutdowns are needed to curb violence, but critics accuse authorities of using the internet as a weapon of war. "Access to communications and other basic services, and most importantly humanitarian assistance, is explicitly used as a bargaining chip by the Ethiopian government," said Goitom Gebreluel, a political analyst specialising in Horn of Africa affairs. "It is used as leverage against both Tigray and the international community." In Ethiopia, sporadic internet and phone blackouts have been used as "a weapon to control and censor information," the group said, making it difficult for journalists and activists to document alleged rights crimes, and for aid to be delivered.
In Tigray's regional capital, Mekelle, emergency workarounds such as satellite phones have become a vital tool for aid agency operations. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also maintains a satellite phone service for local residents -- giving them a way to get a message to loved ones. So far this year, the ICRC has facilitated some 116,000 phone calls and oral messages "between family members separated by conflict and violence," said spokesperson Alyona Synenko. With almost half of the region's six million people in severe need of food, the shutdown as well as road blockades have hampered humanitarian aid deliveries, according to the U.N. World Food Program. The lack of mobile phone networks has also "crippled both the emergency and regular health monitoring systems," a WHO spokesperson said in emailed remarks. The only way to communicate is "via paper reports that need to be delivered by hand. All meetings have to be held in person."
mesh time (Score:2)
Build your own internet, with or without blackjack and hookers
Re: (Score:3)
Technically the most resilient would be an ad-hoc network with automatic directional antennas and Starlink gateway nodes .. not mesh. What's the best open source project for building that?
Re: (Score:2)
By directional, I mean directional with phased array .. not an antenna that you can see where it's pointing to and discover the next node.
Re: mesh time (Score:1)
When I was a little kid in school, I remember learning about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Things like food and shelter come first, thinks like leisure activities come last.
If my internet is cut off *and* the government is trying to subjugate me...I think I have more pressing needs than being able to look at cat memes or yell "help help I'm being repressed" at people on the other side of the planet.
Re: (Score:3)
Internet and food are not separate needs. People are starving in Tigray because the world isn't seeing what is happening there. If they can't post videos of hungry kids on Facebook, the world won't care.
Re: mesh time (Score:2)
The problem is that even if the did post videos of that, the best they could expect is people making âoeI stand with Tigrayâ posts on Facebook. In other words, telling the world is useless. The world is selfish and doesn't care.
Re: (Score:3)
The world is selfish and doesn't care.
The world is spending $billions to help Ukraine, which has done a superb job at getting its story out.
Most people outside Africa have never heard of Tigray, even though the ~500,000 deaths there are ten times higher than in Ukraine.
Casualties of the Tigray War [wikipedia.org]
Re: mesh time (Score:1)
Ukraine is closer to home* and being attacked by an adversary. Tigray is far away and is involved in what could be called an "internal matter."
There's probably a half dozen other Tigrays going on right now that aren't on your radar. The world is a harsh place.
*Geographically and economically Ukraine is close to Western Europe, and by way of NATO, to the US. By contrast, very few if any Fortune 500 companies had factories in Tigray, or bought anything from Tigrayan aerospace manufacturers.
I'll say it again:
Re: (Score:1)
Africa has 1/6 of the world's arable land, with 40% of the continent arable. That's 1119 million hectares, compared to say, the US, which has 157 million hectares. There's also huge wealth in everything from oil to minerals, and of course excellent conditions for solar and other renewables across much of the continent.
The reason why there are people starving there is because of corrupt governments, wars by corrupt governments and warlord groups, and resource mismanagement.
It's time the Africa Union started
Re: (Score:1)
Is that Nobel Peace prize winner (Score:1)
Abiy Ahmed, or am I thinking of a different one?
Re: (Score:2)
The very same:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world... [bbc.com]
Re: (Score:3)
Abiy Ahmed, or am I thinking of a different one?
Same guy.
The Nobel Peace Prize is often awarded for aspirational reasons, so it often looks silly in hindsight when laurates fail to live up to expectations.
Re: Is that Nobel Peace prize winner (Score:2)
It is awarded by political hacks to political hacks for political reasons. Obama got it simply for being elected.
Re: Is that Nobel Peace prize winner (Score:1)
Better than even odds he'd've gotten it even if McCain had won.
Let me guess... (Score:2, Funny)
Insider sources say that Comcast has reassured the country that technicians will be onsite sometime between 8 and 6. The company was not clear on which date, but very clearly stated that the delay was due to heavy call volumes and their call was very important. :)