Ugandan authorities have imposed a nationwide internet blackout just days before presidential elections widely expected to extend President Yoweri Museveni’s four-decade rule.
A government regulatory body ordered mobile network operators to block public internet access from 6pm (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday. Internet monitoring group NetBlocks later confirmed a “nation-scale disruption to internet connectivity”.
The shutdown has intensified fears of repression in the run-up to the January 15 vote. Museveni, 81, Africa’s third-longest-serving leader, is seeking another term against his main challenger, pop star-turned-opposition figure Bobi Wine.
Security forces have rounded up hundreds of opposition supporters ahead of the election and have repeatedly fired live bullets and tear gas at pro-Wine campaign rallies. Longtime opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who previously ran against Museveni four times, remains jailed on treason charges.
The government has defended the crackdown, saying security forces are responding to what it describes as lawless conduct by opposition supporters. The Uganda Communications Commission said the internet shutdown was necessary to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks”.
Alongside the blackout, authorities on Tuesday ordered two local rights groups, Chapter Four Uganda and Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, to suspend their operations.
The state-run National Bureau for NGOs accused Chapter Four Uganda of activities “prejudicial” to national security and ordered it to “cease operations … with immediate effect”.
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