Somalia’s largest telecommunications provider, Hormuud Telecom, on Monday accused Kenyan government forces of deliberately destroying its equipment and facilities in the Dhuyac-garoon area of the Lower Juba region, saying the incident has severed communications and mobile money access for tens of thousands of civilians in southern Somalia.
In a statement, the company said the damage targeted infrastructure serving communities in Dhuyac-garoon and has left an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 residents without essential telecommunications and financial services. Hormuud described the incident as a repeat of similar destruction first reported in January 2019, underscoring what it called a pattern of attacks on civilian infrastructure.
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“The deliberate destruction of our facilities has disrupted communications and mobile money services, significantly worsening living conditions in an area already suffering from prolonged drought,” the company said.
Hormuud said the blackout has curtailed business activity, cut off access to financial services, and disrupted daily livelihoods in a region where mobile money systems are critical for trade, humanitarian assistance and household survival. The company warned the outage was having far-reaching humanitarian consequences, including undermining access to basic services such as food purchases, remittances and emergency communication.
The firm called for the protection of civilian infrastructure and urged relevant authorities to ensure accountability and prevent further damage, emphasizing that telecommunications networks serve the public and should not be targeted under any circumstances. It reiterated its commitment to restoring and maintaining services for Somali communities despite the security and logistical challenges in the area.
There was no immediate response from Kenyan authorities to the allegations.
Lower Juba, which borders Kenya in Somalia’s south, has long been affected by insecurity, cross-border military activity and climate-related shocks. In this context, telecommunications networks underpin economic and social resilience, with mobile money widely used for commerce, aid distribution and family support amid limited access to formal banking.
Hormuud said the latest outage compounds already fragile conditions on the ground, particularly for vulnerable populations reliant on digital payments and phone-based services to meet basic needs. The company did not detail a timeline for repairs but warned that continued attacks on civilian infrastructure risk deepening hardship for communities across the region.
The reported destruction in Dhuyac-garoon adds urgency to longstanding calls by service providers and humanitarian actors for the protection of critical infrastructure in conflict-affected areas. With communications and financial access curtailed, local markets, remittance flows and emergency response efforts face new constraints just as drought and insecurity continue to strain households.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
