Ethiopian region’s internet blackout continues as human rights situation deteriorates

The Ethiopian military has committed atrocities in a swath of the country where the internet has been blacked out for more than a month and a half, according to human rights monitors.

The federal government declared a state of emergency in the Amhara region in early August, after a militia group seized control of several towns in the area. According to the digital rights group Access Now,the mobile internet network in Amhara went down completely on August 3.

The state of emergency was declared the next day and the internet has remained “largely unavailable” ever since, internet infrastructure company Cloudflare said, prompting a coalition of more than 300 rights organizations last week to call on the Ethiopian government to restore access.