Senegal Announces Suspension Of Mobile Internet After Ban On Protest

Mobile internet access in Senegal was suspended on Tuesday for the second time this month, the communications ministry said, after authorities banned a march against the delay to February’s presidential election.

President Macky Sall’s decision to push back the February 25 vote until December plunged Senegal into a crisis which has seen three dead amid clashes between protesters and security forces.

“Due to the dissemination on social networks of several subversive hate messages that have already provoked violent demonstrations… mobile data is suspended this Tuesday 13 February,” the Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Energy said in a statement.

Access to mobile data had already been temporarily restricted eight days ago when parliament backed Sall’s decision to postpone the election.

This decision was severely criticised by rights activists and Senegal’s major international partners, including the United States and the European Union.

Access was restored again on Wednesday.

The move to cut mobile internet was a repeat of a move last June, where Senegal’s government restricted access amid high tensions in the country.

The measure has become a common response to curb mobilisation and communication via social networks, strongly condemned by rights activists.