Breaking the fiber cable makes a country lose Internet connection for 2 days

The cable breakdown at the end of last month left the whole Mauritanian nation in northeast Africa completely isolated from the world for two days.

On March 30, a 17,000-kilometer long sea cable connecting 22 countries from Africa to Europe, from South Africa to France broke off the Internet of a series of North Atlantic coastal nations (like Ivory Coast, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Gambia and Benin), part of Sierra Leone and all Mauritanians lost their connection.

Breaking the fiber cable makes a country lose Internet connection for 2 days Picture 1
There is only one cable connection to the Internet and Mauritania.(Photo: BI.)

This area has never been significantly affected by the Internet during the past five years. So far, it has not been possible to find out the cause of this serious cable breakdown but according to Business Insider it is very likely that the incident is related to the election in Sierra Leone on March 31 night.

This incident was particularly serious for Mauritania, the whole country lost its Internet within 48 hours before being restored. This is the most serious and long-term Internet interruption that has ever happened in this country.

Previously, intelligence officials of the British and American military had repeatedly warned about the protection of submarines. James Stavridis, a former US Navy admiral, said that there would be serious damage to the economy including economic and military losses if the sea cable infrastructure was comprehensively attacked.

See more:

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