Ethiopians worried about internet censorship

Ethiopian officials have restricted internet access in major cities across the country.

Millions of Ethiopians living outside the capital Addis Ababa have not had access to the Internet for nearly a year, and the government explanation for the prolonged cut is still awaited.

The situation has brought negative consequences on the economy.

“We lost our daily income. As you can see, there are no customers. When there was Internet connection, people came here and used the Internet, downloaded files, printed and copied documents. We stopped providing all these services,“cyber cafe owner, Kale Alemayehu said.

Graphic designer, Moti Sasho added, “The 3G Internet no longer works because of political instability in the country. It does not work in the whole Oromia region. It works in Addis Ababa but not in Oromia, it’s related to unrest in our country.”

In June last year, the government announced that it had deactivated these services in the country to avoid test leaks during exam periods.

This is not the first time that people have faced these cuts.

In 2016, the was interrupted after an English test was circulated online.

The situation pushed the government to cancel the whole exams.

The same year, Internet connection was also interrupted for several weeks during major anti-government demonstrations.