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Reactions as internet blackout grips parts of West and Central Africa
Major parts of West and Central Africa reported internet outages on March 14, due to an undersea cable cut.
These outages have left countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso and Liberia without internet access.
African data centre and connectivity provider MainOne, present in Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast said the internet outage was caused by a break in its submarine cable system.
“Given the distance from land, and the cable depth of about 3 kms at the point of fault, any kind of human activity – ship anchors, fishing, drilling etc has been immediately ruled out. Our preliminary analysis would suggest some form of seismic activity on the seabed resulted in a break to the cable, but we will obtain more data when the cable is retrieved during the repair exercise," MainOne said.
People in affected regions have been forced to adapt to life without the digital lifeline they've grown accustomed to. While the internet has been largely restored in countries like Liberia and South Africa, the same cannot be said for countries like Ghana and Nigeria. However, they have reported a gradual improvement in their internet connectivity.
People living in these affected areas have taken to social media to express their frustration, share experiences about how living without internet has been for them, and even find moments of humour amid the inconvenience.
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has been a buzz with posts from individuals from the affected areas.
Below are some reactions following the major internet blackout.
