Uganda’s government has continued its harsh crackdown on dissent in the country ahead of a Thursday election that the United Nations Human Rights Office says is taking place in an atmosphere of repression and intimidation.
Recently, the Ugandan government ordered local rights groups to halt work investigating election integrity. Now, it has initiated a total internet blackout.
The blackout was confirmed by web tracker NetBlocks.
In a post on X, NetBlocks said, “Live network data show a nation-scale disruption to internet connectivity in Uganda.”
Journalists in the capital Kampala say they lost internet access after the Uganda Communications Commission ordered internet providers cut access to prevent the spread of “misinformation” and electoral fraud.
Some international phone calls were also being blocked said the journalists.
UN has been condemning pre-election abuses in Uganda for months
A November UN report claimed that Ugandan authorities began detaining hundreds of opposition supporters well ahead of a January 15 election in which President Yoweri Museveni looks to extend his four-decade rule over the country.
Museveni came to power in 1986 after leading a five-year rebellion. He is currently Africa’s third-longest ruling head of state.
Museveni has changed the constitution twice to remove age and term limits and his control of institutions leaves no room for an election upset in the East African country of 46 million.
Opposition politician Bobi Wine has described the campaign as ‘war’ and is rarely seen in public wiothout a bulletproof vestAbubaker Lubowa/REUTERS
The two watchdogs told to stop their work this week had denounced rights violations including the arbitrary detention and torture of opposition supporters and journalists.
The UN said Friday that police and military had used live ammunition to disperse peaceful rallies, made random arrests and renditioned opposition supporters ahead of the vote.
The government has defended security forces actions as a justified response to the lawless conduct of opposition supporters.
The main opposition candidate Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, is rarely seen in public without his flak jacket and has described the campaign as a “war.”
Wine has been arrested multiple times in the past and tortured in military custody.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse