Somalia investigates ongoing Internet outage

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia

The Somali government has launched an investigation into the ongoing Internet outage in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, the attorney general said Thursday.

The internet outage hit 11 out of 18 Somali regions including the capital Mogadishu. South and central Somalia have been without Internet access since June 25.

"My office started an investigation into the ongoing Internet outage. Those behind the Internet outage will be held accountable," Ahmed Ali Dahir, Somali attorney general, told local media.

The outage was caused by damage to an undersea fiber optic cable by a commercial ship, local media have reported.

The internet outage is costing the country more than $10 million per day, according to Telecommunications Minister Abdi Anshur.

"This affected all the government offices including the immigration agency. This is a major disaster for the country," Anshur told reporters.

Internet usage in Somalia is slow with only 1.6 percent of the country's population online, according to the International Telecommunications Union.