The Republic of the Congo experienced a brief but sharp degradation in internet connectivity on the afternoon of August 16. The disruption was recorded between 17:30 and 17:59 UTC, lasting approximately half an hour. The event registered a severity score of 2,677, driven primarily by a significant drop in a key network traffic measurement.
Technical Details
The primary affected signal was the Merit Network Telescope (merit-nt) measurement, which serves as a proxy for aggregate network connectivity by analyzing backscatter traffic. Its median value dropped by 95% from its observed peak during the event window. Other core internet health indicators showed less pronounced changes. The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) control plane, which manages routing information between networks, remained stable with only a 0% deviation. Active probing for ICMP reachability across IPv4 address blocks (ping-slash24) saw a minor 6% reduction.
The cause has not been publicly attributed. No official statements or reports from service providers or government agencies in Congo were identified in the immediate aftermath of the event.
Connectivity was reported restored by the end of the observation period.
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