# Fighting and Network Cuts in Ethiopia’s Tigray Leave Civilians Harder to Reach and Harder to See

*Sunday, September 27, 2026 at 10:08 AM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-09-27T10:08:26.000Z (2h ago)
**Category**: conflict | **Region**: Africa
**Importance**: 8/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/18968.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: Internet and phone services have been disrupted across Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region after clashes between regional forces and the national army, with state-owned Ethio Telecom offline and Safaricom only partly working, according to monitoring groups.

Renewed clashes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region have been followed by a sharp drop in communications, obscuring conditions on the ground for residents and outsiders alike. On 27 September, reports from the BBC and network-monitoring group NetBlocks said internet and call services had been disrupted in northern Tigray after fighting resumed between regional forces and the national army.

State-owned Ethio Telecom’s services were described as completely cut in the region, leaving customers unable to use its networks for calls or internet access. By contrast, Safaricom, a newer commercial operator, was reported to remain operational, though NetBlocks said network data showed a significant decline in connectivity overall.

The available reporting did not detail the exact start time of the blackout, its full geographic reach within Tigray or whether the Ethiopian government had issued a formal order for the shutdown. It did, however, link the disruption to fighting that broke out during the week between Tigrayan regional forces and federal troops.

For civilians in Tigray, losing service on the dominant state operator means it becomes harder to call relatives, contact emergency services or receive information about where clashes are taking place. Patchy access through Safaricom mitigates that only partly, particularly in rural areas where the newer network may be less established.

Aid agencies and humanitarian organizations also depend on at least basic connectivity to coordinate deliveries and assess security. A region emerging from years of conflict and hunger is difficult to support when phone lines and data links fail in the middle of new clashes.

NetBlocks’ indication of reduced connectivity suggests that, even without a total shutdown across all networks, the flow of information from Tigray has been sharply limited. That leaves diplomats, regional bodies and the wider Ethiopian public with fewer independent signals about the scale of any new displacement or casualties.

The next developments to watch are any formal statements from Ethiopia’s federal authorities about the communications situation, independent verification of incidents in the areas where fighting has resumed, and technical data from monitoring groups on whether services are being restored or further restricted.