Zimbabwe Experiences BGP Control Plane Disruption

Zimbabwe experienced a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) control plane disruption on July 12, 2026. The event began at 04:45 UTC and lasted for approximately two hours, concluding around 06:45 UTC. The disruption registered a severity score of 402, primarily impacting the BGP signal.

Technical Details

The BGP signal, which measures the visibility of network routing prefixes across the global control plane, recorded a median prefix count drop of 3% from its peak. The event’s severity was calculated at 402. During the same observation window from 02:30 to 08:30 UTC, other network health indicators showed lesser deviations: the ping-slash24 signal, measuring ICMP reachability across IPv4 /24 prefixes, saw an 8% drop, while the Merit Network Telescope backscatter signal, an aggregate connectivity proxy, recorded a 44% drop from its peak.

The cause has not been publicly attributed.

Network conditions were reported as restored following the two-hour disruption.