"Ethiopia shuts down telephone, internet services in Tigray"

The Ethiopian government on Wednesday began restricting telephone and internet services to the troubled Tigray region, hours after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military response to an ambush on the military. Information access rights group, Access Now, indicated the region had been closed to the world after Addis Ababa imposed a six-month State of Emergency, accusing Tigray of threatening the sovereignty of Ethiopia. “The government of Ethiopia has again shut down the internet,” Access Now said. “Mobile network, fixed-line internet and landline telephony have been cut in Tigray, as PM declares a state of emergency and orders military intervention against Tigray People’s Liberation Front.”...

Jakenn Publishing PLC, the publisher of the Addis Standard online magazine, issued an editorial demanding open channels to access the region and report on the incident...“As an independent media based in Ethiopia and concerned about the safety of civilian citizens, with a responsibility to provide the local and international community with factual updates, and in this age when we struggle with the proliferation of fake news, we kindly ask the government to let the truth be upheld and allow the restoration of all means of communication in Tigray regional state.”