La coupure de télécommunications du Tigré accentue le conflit renouvelé en Éthiopie
Jerusalem Africa Desk ·
Internet and phone networks have been disrupted across Tigray as fighting between Tigrayan and federal forces spreads through northern Ethiopia. The cause remains contested, but emerging evidence suggests communications themselves may be becoming part of the military contest — affecting drone operations, humanitarian access and independent reporting from the battlefield.
La coupure de télécommunications du Tigré accentue le conflit renouvelé en Éthiopie
Tigray Telecom Blackout Turns Connectivity Into a Battlefield Tool in Ethiopia’s Renewed War
Internet and phone networks have been disrupted across Tigray as fighting between Tigrayan and federal forces spreads through northern Ethiopia. The cause remains contested, but emerging evidence suggests communications themselves may be becoming part of the military contest — affecting drone operations, humanitarian access and independent reporting from the battlefield.
Northern Ethiopia’s renewed war is being fought not only over territory, airports and roads.
It is also being fought over connectivity.
Internet and telephone networks across Tigray were severely disrupted on September 25 as federal forces and Tigrayan fighters battled across Tigray, Afar and Amhara in the most serious escalation since the 2020–2022 civil war.
Network monitoring group NetBlocks detected a subnational internet disruption in northern Ethiopia corresponding with reports of a telecom blackout in Tigray. Reuters journalists were unable to connect to numbers using state-owned Ethio telecom, while customers of private operator Safaricom retained only limited connectivity.
The timing immediately revived memories of the previous Tigray war, when prolonged communications restrictions made humanitarian coordination, journalism and independent verification extraordinarily difficult.
But one critical fact needs to remain clear.
There is currently no verified evidence that the Ethiopian National Defense Force ordered the September 25 shutdown.
In fact, Reuters reported that four people familiar with the situation — including a diplomatic source — said Tigrayan authorities had instructed Ethio telecom and Safaricom to cut their networks.
A source close to the TPLF denied that allegation and instead blamed the federal government.
Neither the Ethiopian government nor the two telecom operators publicly clarified responsibility.
The blackout is therefore confirmed.
Who ordered it remains disputed.
The Communications Network May Have Become Part of the Battlefield
One possible explanation reported by Reuters points directly to military operations.
A source familiar with restrictions in Tigray said limits on mobile communications may have been intended to reduce the Ethiopian military’s battlefield advantage from drones by preventing government forces from using mobile networks.
The Ethiopian military possesses significant imported and domestically produced drone capabilities and has been conducting drone strikes against targets in Tigray, according to conflict-monitoring organization ACLED.
That possibility changes how the telecommunications shutdown should be understood.
Internet blackouts are often discussed primarily as tools for controlling information.
In a highly networked battlefield, however, communications infrastructure can also have operational value.
Mobile networks can potentially assist with:
Disabling a network can therefore impose military costs as well as civilian ones.
If Tigrayan authorities did order the shutdown to complicate federal drone operations, the blackout would represent a defensive communications-denial tactic rather than a federal attempt to isolate Tigray.
That remains an assessment, however, not a confirmed explanation.
No Evidence Yet Supports Claims of Physically Severed Fiber Networks
The distinction between a network shutdown and physical destruction of telecommunications infrastructure is also important.
The current public evidence establishes a major loss of connectivity.
It does not establish that satellite imagery identified deliberately severed fiber-optic cables.
NetBlocks reported network-level disruption based on connectivity data, not proof that fiber lines had been physically cut.
Reuters similarly reported that phone and internet services had stopped or become severely restricted but did not identify confirmed physical destruction of fiber infrastructure.
This leaves several possibilities.
Until telecom operators or independent technical investigators provide further evidence, describing the incident as a coordinated physical fiber cut would go beyond what can currently be established.
Fighting and the Blackout Escalated Together
The communications disruption occurred as northern Ethiopia entered a new phase of warfare.
Tigrayan forces and allied groups launched operations on September 23, seizing the airports at Mekelle, Axum and Shire and attacking federal positions in neighbouring Afar and Amhara.
Federal forces responded with counter-operations.
By September 25, a humanitarian source in Afar described intense overnight fighting around Abala, near the Tigray border. The source said federal forces had prevented Tigrayan fighters from entering the town and that the Ethiopian military had used a drone during the fighting.
The communications blackout therefore did not occur during a period of political tension alone.
It coincided with active multi-front combat.
That makes connectivity strategically important to both sides.
Information about troop movements, airstrikes, casualties and territorial control can itself influence military decisions.
Removing communications makes that information harder to obtain — for combatants, civilians and outside observers alike.
Humanitarian Agencies Lose Visibility When Networks Go Dark
For humanitarian organizations, telecommunications are operational infrastructure.
Aid agencies use mobile and internet services to communicate with field teams, monitor population movements, coordinate vehicles, identify emerging medical needs and assess whether roads remain safe.
Previous shutdowns in Ethiopia demonstrate how damaging their loss can become.
Human Rights Watch documented that communications restrictions imposed during security operations in Ethiopia disrupted emergency services and prevented humanitarian workers from obtaining essential information about security and civilian needs.
During the previous Tigray war, the communications blackout coincided with restrictions on roads, banking, electricity and humanitarian access.
Human Rights Watch reported that the shutdown of telecommunications and other essential services severely complicated the delivery of medical and humanitarian assistance.
The current blackout does not yet mean those conditions have returned.
But the historical precedent explains why the September disruption immediately generated concern.
The longer communications remain unreliable, the harder it becomes to determine where civilians are moving and which areas require assistance.
An Information Vacuum Favors Unverified Battlefield Claims
The loss of connectivity also affects what the outside world knows about the war.
Both the Ethiopian military and Tigrayan forces are issuing claims about battlefield victories and enemy losses.
On September 25, Ethiopia’s North East Command said its forces had killed 436 enemy fighters, wounded 220 and captured 44 after reporting hundreds of additional casualties the previous day.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield claims.
Communications disruption makes independent verification even more difficult.
Journalists cannot easily contact residents.
Local videos are harder to upload.
Humanitarian workers cannot communicate reliably with headquarters.
Families cannot confirm whether relatives are safe.
This creates an information environment in which official statements, partisan social-media accounts and rumours can circulate faster than independently verified reporting.
The blackout therefore produces a paradox.
It reduces the amount of information leaving the battlefield while simultaneously increasing the strategic value of whatever information does escape.
For OSINT analysts, that means greater caution is required, not less.
Ethiopia Has a Long History of Communications Shutdowns
The September disruption is not without precedent.
Ethiopian authorities have repeatedly restricted communications during periods of conflict and political unrest.
In November 2020, telephone and internet services were cut shortly after federal military operations began in Tigray.
Connectivity remained heavily restricted for long periods during the subsequent war, producing one of the world’s longest regional internet shutdowns.
Ethiopia has also imposed network restrictions elsewhere.
Human Rights Watch documented communications shutdowns during counter-insurgency operations in Oromia in 2020, while mobile internet was later restricted in Amhara after fighting between federal forces and Fano militias escalated in 2023.
These precedents matter because communications restrictions have become a recurring feature of Ethiopian security crises.
But that does not establish that the federal government ordered the latest Tigray blackout.
The available reporting currently points to a much more complicated and contested picture.
This Is Information Warfare More Than Conventional Cyberwarfare
Describing the outage as a demonstration of Ethiopia’s growing “cyber-offensive toolkit” would also be misleading.
An internet shutdown is not necessarily a cyberattack.
Cyber operations usually involve actions such as penetrating networks, stealing data, deploying malware, disrupting digital systems remotely or compromising an adversary’s infrastructure.
Turning off telecommunications through regulatory, administrative or physical control is different.
The more accurate category is communications denial or information control.
That distinction matters because it identifies what capability is actually being demonstrated.
Ethiopia and Tigrayan authorities do not need sophisticated offensive malware to disconnect a region.
What matters is control over telecom infrastructure, operators, network gateways and physical transmission systems.
In a conflict, that control can itself become strategically valuable.
Drone Warfare Gives Connectivity New Military Value
The current fighting makes that relationship particularly important.
Drones have become a major part of Ethiopia’s military power.
During the previous Tigray war, unmanned aircraft supplied by foreign partners contributed significantly to federal battlefield capabilities.
Since then, Ethiopia has expanded its drone inventory and developed domestic production.
The renewed fighting is again demonstrating that advantage.
Reuters reported that the federal military has large stocks of imported and locally manufactured drones and has conducted strikes in Tigray since before the latest ground offensive.
Tigrayan forces are not publicly known to possess an equivalent drone capability.
That disparity gives them an incentive to search for asymmetric ways to reduce the effectiveness of federal surveillance and targeting.
Whether the telecom shutdown actually achieves that objective is unclear.
Military drones can use dedicated command links, satellite systems and other communications architecture independent of public mobile networks.
But commercial networks can still support broader intelligence and coordination activities surrounding drone operations.
The relationship between drones and the blackout therefore deserves monitoring rather than assumption.
Civilians Bear the Cost Regardless of Who Ordered It
The dispute over responsibility does not change the immediate civilian consequences.
Residents lose the ability to contact relatives.
Businesses lose digital communications.
Banking and payment systems can become less reliable.
Journalists lose access to sources.
Humanitarian organizations lose situational awareness.
And communities become more dependent on whichever political or military actor controls local information.
During the 2020–2022 conflict, the telecommunications blackout contributed to the extreme isolation of Tigray.
Reuters reported that roughly six million people spent prolonged periods without normal internet access, with serious consequences for businesses, aid delivery and family communications.
That history means even a relatively short disruption in 2026 carries psychological as well as operational consequences.
Residents understand what prolonged isolation previously meant.
Reports of people rushing to buy supplies and withdraw cash as fighting resumed reflect that experience.
The Horn Is Becoming More Digitally Dependent — and More Vulnerable
The broader regional lesson extends beyond Ethiopia.
Across the Horn of Africa, governments, armed forces, humanitarian organizations and civilian economies increasingly rely on digital communications.
That creates enormous benefits.
It also creates new points of vulnerability during conflict.
Control of telecommunications can affect:
As militaries become more networked and societies more digitally dependent, connectivity itself becomes strategically significant.
That does not mean every outage should be labelled cyberwarfare.
It means communications infrastructure increasingly belongs inside conventional security analysis.
The Question Now Is Who Controls the Switch
The most important unanswered question is still responsibility.
Reuters’ reporting points toward Tigrayan authorities having ordered operators to restrict service, while a source close to the TPLF blames the federal government.
Neither side has produced publicly verifiable evidence proving its accusation.
Ethio telecom and Safaricom have also not publicly explained the disruption.
Until that changes, the blackout should be described as a confirmed communications disruption with disputed attribution.
Several indicators could clarify what happened.
The duration will also matter.
A short interruption could indicate a tactical measure associated with immediate fighting.
A prolonged regional blackout would represent something more consequential: the return of communications isolation as a central feature of warfare in northern Ethiopia.
The September blackout therefore illustrates a larger change in modern conflict. Control of territory still matters, but so does control over whether that territory can communicate with the outside world. In northern Ethiopia, the network itself has once again become part of the battlefield.
Ethiopia Ethiopian federal army Tigray People's Liberation Front Ethiopian military
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