{"id":23949,"date":"2026-01-15T00:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T00:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/23949\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T00:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T00:47:17","slug":"uganda-shuts-down-internet-ahead-of-crucial-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/23949\/","title":{"rendered":"Uganda shuts down internet ahead of crucial election"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to the Uganda Communication\u00a0Commission\u2019s\u00a0(UCC)\u00a0decision\u00a0to\u00a0indefinitely\u00a0suspend internet services<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0certain mobile\u00a0phone\u00a0services\u00a0ahead of\u00a0tomorrow\u2019s high stakes\u00a0general election,\u00a0Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International\u2019s East and Southern Africa Regional Director\u00a0said:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis\u00a0indefinite\u00a0internet\u00a0shutdown\u00a0is\u00a0a brazen\u00a0attack on the right to freedom of expression\u00a0which includes\u00a0access\u00a0to information.\u00a0It\u00a0is\u00a0especially alarming coming as it does\u00a0just before a crucial election\u00a0already marred by\u00a0massive repression and\u00a0an\u00a0unprecedented crackdown on opposition parties<\/a>\u00a0and dissenting voices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBlanket\u00a0shutdowns disrupt\u00a0people\u2019s\u00a0mobility,\u00a0livelihoods\u00a0and\u00a0their\u00a0ability to\u00a0access vital information. They are inherently\u00a0disproportionate under international human rights law\u00a0and must\u00a0never be imposed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCutting off internet access under the\u00a0pretext of preventing misinformation\u00a0or preserving\u00a0national\u00a0security violates\u00a0human rights\u00a0at\u00a0a\u00a0critical\u00a0moment\u00a0in\u00a0Uganda.\u00a0It\u00a0creates\u00a0an\u00a0information vacuum\u00a0and\u00a0a digital darkness\u00a0that may provide cover for\u00a0the\u00a0perpetration of\u00a0serious human rights violations.\u00a0The fact that no end date for the internet shutdown has been given\u00a0is also\u00a0ominous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International\u2019s East and Southern Africa Regional Director<\/p>\n

\u201cAmnesty International calls on Ugandan authorities to\u00a0immediately\u00a0lift all\u00a0restrictions on access to the internet\u00a0and affected mobile phone services.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Background\u00a0<\/p>\n

On\u00a0Tuesday,\u00a0the\u00a0UCC\u00a0announced an\u00a0internet shutdown\u00a0which started at\u00a06pm local time,\u00a0which it said will remain in effect until\u00a0further notice.\u00a0On\u00a0Wednesday\u00a0internet\u00a0monitoring group\u00a0NetBlocks<\/a>\u00a0reported a widespread shutdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0order\u00a0requires\u00a0network operators and internet service providers to suspend internet services,\u00a0stop selling and registering\u00a0new sim\u00a0or phone\u00a0cards,\u00a0and\u00a0stop\u00a0outbound data roaming services.\u00a0The\u00a0UCC\u00a0said the\u00a0measures are necessary to mitigate the spread of misinformation, disinformation, electoral\u00a0fraud,\u00a0and\u00a0to\u00a0protect\u00a0national security.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ugandan authorities\u00a0routinely tighten\u00a0internet\u00a0access\u00a0during elections,<\/a>\u00a0depriving voters of\u00a0crucial\u00a0electoral information.\u00a0During the last election in 2021,\u00a0dozens of people were killed<\/a>\u00a0amid a week-long internet\u00a0blackout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The internet shutdown\u00a0comes shortly after\u00a0the Uganda NGO Bureau\u00a0suspended\u00a0permits for at least six non-governmental organizations and froze their bank accounts, limiting\u00a0their\u00a0freedom of association which is guaranteed under the Ugandan Constitution and international\u00a0human rights\u00a0law.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the\u00a0African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights\u00a0expressed\u00a0concern<\/a>\u00a0over pre-election\u00a0information\u00a0restrictions\u00a0in Uganda and\u00a0widespread\u00a0acts of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, and abuse\u00a0of journalists.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In response to the Uganda Communication\u00a0Commission\u2019s\u00a0(UCC)\u00a0decision\u00a0to\u00a0indefinitely\u00a0suspend internet services\u00a0and\u00a0certain mobile\u00a0phone\u00a0services\u00a0ahead of\u00a0tomorrow\u2019s high stakes\u00a0general election,\u00a0Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International\u2019s East and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[153],"class_list":{"0":"post-23949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uganda","8":"tag-uganda"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}