By James Barton
The government of Senegal has blocked access to mobile internet services in certain regions of the country amidst civil unrest.
Reuters reports that widespread protests have broken out across the country after popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was last week sentenced to two years in prison. This is expected to stop Sonko from running in February’s presidential election.
Inciting further public anger, incumbent President Macky Sall has refused to rule out running for a third term despite Senegal’s two-term limit on the presidency. The violent protests against the government’s actions have thus far resulted in 16 reported deaths – Reuters notes that this is one of Senegal’s “deadliest bouts of civil unrest in decades.”
Citing “the spread of hateful and subversive messages” during the rioting, the government restricted access to a number of messaging platforms last week before extending the outage to all mobile data on Sunday – albeit within certain areas of the country, and at specific times of day. Users in Dakar reported being unable to access mobile data on Sunday afternoon – a time when the protests would likely be in full swing.
Internet blackouts are commonly deployed across Africa as a means of quashing dissent. The practice rose to prominence during the 2011 Arab Spring, with Egypt, Tunisia and Libya all deploying the tactic, while in the years since the technique has been used by Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Gambia and Uganda.
A statement from Amnesty International said: “These restrictions [in Senegal] constitute arbitrary measures contrary to international law and cannot be justified by security imperatives.” Internet blackouts are widely criticised for their economic impact as well as for restricting freedom of speech
