Overview
- The communications authority directed providers to cut access, citing a need to curb “false information” and “calls for violence” before the polls.
- Netblocks reported a nationwide disruption on Tuesday, and AFP journalists in Uganda observed the shutdown.
- Rights monitors describe a clampdown, with security forces breaking up opposition events, hundreds of Bobi Wine supporters arrested, two local rights groups ordered to stop work, and a UN warning of intimidation.
- The blackout reprises Uganda's 2021 election shutdown, which drew allegations of manipulation and state violence.
- President Yoweri Museveni, 81, is seeking a seventh term after four decades in power, while main challenger Bobi Wine is seen as unlikely to win despite strong support.