Somalia internet connection restored after 23 days total blackout

Reports, however, indicate that it is not a full restoration given that places in South and Central Somalia all have connection. Other areas of the country battling Al-Shabaab, are yet to report of having their internet back.

The 23-day outage was caused by an undersea fibre optic cable cut. Authorities said a vessel, the MSC Alice, which had brought goods to a port in the capital Mogadishu, was responsible for the situation.

Somalia’s Attorney General told the BBC last week that the vessel was being held in Somali waters and that the country was also demanding compensation from the losses that they have incurred since the incident.

“Whoever was involved in this incident will be tried and the company that belongs to the ship that was involved in cutting the undersea cable is required to pay for the loss,” Ahmed Ali Dahir is quoted to have said.

According to him, the outage cost the country $10m each day, he however did not state how much compensation Somalia will be pushing for.

Among the worse affected groups were the media, businesses and government offices. People who did not have access to social media are now tweeting their joy at the return of internet access.