Cape Verde experienced a significant internet connectivity degradation on Friday, August 21, 2026. The disruption began at approximately 04:00 UTC and lasted for about 4.5 hours, with restoration observed by 08:30 UTC. The event was characterized by a sharp decline in network reachability across the country.
Technical Details
The primary technical indicator of the disruption was a severe drop in the ping-slash24 signal, which measures ICMP reachability across active IPv4 network prefixes. This signal recorded a severity score of 6,843 during the event, with reachability dropping by 36% from its peak. The gtr-norm signal, which tracks deviations from expected traffic baselines, also showed a 52% drop from its peak. The merit-nt signal, a proxy for aggregate connectivity, fell to zero during the outage. The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) control plane, responsible for routing announcements, remained stable throughout the event with no observed prefix withdrawals.
The cause has not been publicly attributed. No official statements or news reports identifying a reason for the disruption were found in the immediate aftermath.
Connectivity was reported restored by the end of the observation period.
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