Somalia Mobile Phone Services Disrupted Following Shelling on Transmission Device

The open air artillery barrages of the joint Somali-Ethiopian forces in the Mogadishu market of Bakara have destroyed one of the largest telecommunications networks in Somalia, leaving all cell phone services idle on Sunday morning.

Bakara which is the main market in the Somali capital came under artillery barrage that killed around 15 and injured 64 more others, accompanied by destruction of many business buildings including the Hormuud Telecommunication Company.

“A heavy shell landed on our company, it destroyed many devices including the transmission device which caused all cell phone service to be idle in Mogadishu today,” Abdi Rashid Ali, one of the top managers of Hormuud Telecommunication Company, told reporters in Mogadishu.

“Our technicians are working on it,” he added.

The company is located inside the market where the heaviest fighting rocked this morning.

Another power company was also damaged by the shelling while the residents are worried by the electricity shortage.

Somalis who are using cell phones are now worried about the lack of communication since most of their families are based abroad.

Somalia had been plunged in anarchy after the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, when warlords used their clan based militias to fall over the dictator. But they fought each other for power, leading to constant inter-clan war which left thousands killed and millions displaced.

Source African Press Agency

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