Of recent, Ethiopia’s authorities were restricting access of internet to it’s people leaving many of them frustrated. An Amnesty International report then accused the Ethiopian government of systematically and illegally blocking access to social media in its efforts to crush dissent.
According to reports by BBC Africa News, multiple reports are calming there is an ongoing internet blockade in Cameroon especially in the restive English-speaking region of Bamenda.
Akamai Technologies Inc., the US-based internet content delivery firm, in a tweet mentioned there was a noted disruption of internet traffic at 20:45 GMT (11:45 p.m. EAT) last night, while Dyn Research also in a tweet shared a graph showing a drop in internet connections in the country.
#Internet disruption in #Cameroon reportedly due to govt-directed blackout. @Akamai traffic to the country dropped sharply at ~20:45 UTC. pic.twitter.com/saBto4qyVy
— StateOfTheInternet (@akamai_soti) January 18, 2017
Large outage in #Cameroon as reports suggest govt-directed blackout following political arrestshttps://t.co/Pbh5TjoqOr pic.twitter.com/M6lH4qJ6qZ
— Dyn Research (@DynResearch) January 17, 2017
There has been tension in the north-western Cameroon following a push by the people in the Anglophone region against plans to decree the use of French language in schools and courts.
#Cameroon gov’t arrest Consortium leaders, cut off internet in #Buea & #Bamenda @FemiOke @BBCAfrica @CNNAfrica @BBCNews @AUC_DPA @FRANCE24
— Eric Acha (@EricAcha1) January 17, 2017
Internet in Cameroon very spotty and unstable this evening. Not only in anglophone regions but also in Douala #KeepItOn
— Rebecca Enonchong (@africatechie) January 17, 2017
No possibility of getting information from Anglophone regions. Internet blocked.
— Mimi MEFO Cameroon (@Mimimefo237) January 17, 2017
MTN attributes Internet shutdown on technical fault but as I write there is no connection in bamenda and some parts of the South West region
— Mimi MEFO Cameroon (@Mimimefo237) January 18, 2017
Reports say that local leaders were arrested before the disruption.[related-posts]
There was no mention of sites or platform being blocked, reports just claim ‘internet’ was blocked.
source: BBC Africa News
Live Reporting BBC correspondants: Dickens Olewe and Lucy Fleming
