Internet resumption still temporary-Telecommunications Minister

Telecommunications Minister Abdi Anshur has said there was yet a permanent solution to the internet outage that hit most part of the country Saturday including the capital Mogadishu.

Anshur told journalists Tuesday the telecommunications companies working on fixing the problem were yet to put in a permanent curb noting it was ‘a temporary measure’.

The minister denied Sunday the government was responsible for the disruption of internet services attributing to technical faults with the undersea cables. Hormuud Telecom said the problem was a result of strong winds which affected the cables.

Netblocks, an internet watchdog blamed ‘political activities in Mogadishu’ related to the ouster of prime Minister Hassan Khaire on Friday for the disruption.

There had been fears Somali government had adopted internet shutdowns measures akin to the one in Ethiopia where the government has on several occasions cut off internet owing to instability in parts of the country.

Somalia experienced close to a month long internet shutdown in 2018 attributed to damage of undersea cables by ships.