Uganda faces mounting calls to end internet blackout before elections 

Uganda is facing mounting calls to lift a nationwide internet blackout before a contentious election, with the United Nations saying the government-imposed restrictions are “deeply worrying”.

In a social media post on Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Office stressed that “open access to communication & information is key to free & genuine elections”.

“All Ugandans must be able to take part in shaping their future & the future of their country,” it said.

The call comes a day after a Ugandan government regulatory body instructed mobile network operators to block public internet access, starting on Tuesday evening, as the East African country readied for a January 15 general election.

Internet monitor NetBlocks said in its latest update on Wednesday that Uganda was “in the midst of a widespread internet shutdown”.

“Far from halting misinformation, the measure is likely to limit transparency and increase the risk of vote fraud,” the group warned.

The government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, 81, has been accused of overseeing a years-long crackdown on its critics, arresting political opposition leaders and their supporters.

Museveni is being challenged in Thursday’s vote by pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, whose campaign rallies have been routinely disrupted by the Ugandan authorities.

The UN Human Rights Office last week warned that Ugandans would be heading to the polls amid “widespread repression and intimidation against the political opposition, human rights defenders, journalists and those with dissenting views”.

The Uganda Communications Commission defended the internet shutdown as necessary to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks”.

But Tigere Chagutah, the East and Southern Africa regional director at Amnesty International, condemned the restrictions as “a brazen attack on the right to freedom of expression”.

“It is especially alarming coming as it does just before a crucial election already marred by massive repression and an unprecedented crackdown on opposition parties and dissenting voices,” Chagutah said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Blanket shutdowns disrupt people’s mobility, livelihoods and their ability to access vital information. They are inherently disproportionate under international human rights law and must never be imposed.”

Widespread violence during Uganda’s last general elections campaign, in 2021, left at least 54 people dead, according to Human Rights Watch, while the authorities also cut off social media and internet access.