Zimbabwe Experiences Multi-Day BGP Connectivity Disruption

Zimbabwe experienced a significant connectivity disruption affecting its internet control plane from July 13 to July 16. The event, which lasted approximately 2.6 days, was characterized by a severe degradation in the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) signal, a key indicator of network routing stability.

Technical Details

The disruption began on July 13 at 10:05 UTC and concluded by 00:30 UTC on July 16. The primary affected metric was the BGP median signal, which recorded a severity score of 4,948. This signal measures the control plane visibility for internet prefixes, reflecting the stability of routing announcements.

Concurrently, other network health indicators showed deviations. The ping-slash24 signal, which measures ICMP reachability across IPv4 /24 prefixes, showed a 17% drop from its peak. The gtr-norm signal, a forecast deviation from expected traffic baseline, recorded an 87% drop from its peak. The merit-nt signal, a backscatter measurement that serves as an aggregate connectivity proxy, showed a 44% drop.

Reported Cause

The cause of the multi-day disruption has not been publicly attributed.

Connectivity was reported restored by the end of the observation period.