N’DJAMENA, March 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Activists in Chad are demanding that the government restore access to social media after it was cut off a year ago.
The restrictions were introduced on March 28, 2018 – shortly after the conclusion of a national conference which recommended changes to the constitution, to allow President Idriss Deby to remain in power until 2033.
Critics of Deby have been mobilising through social media since the last presidential elections in 2016.
The mobilisation proved effective, as many Chadians were using social media to organise anti-government protests.
Access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, among others, has been blocked and since the ban was implemented, the number of demonstrations has dropped and those that have gone ahead have seen smaller numbers.
However, the ban only affects a small number of people in Chad – just 4.9% of the population regularly accesses the internet, according to data gathered by Internet World Statistics.
Activists have always blamed the government for the social media cut.
Government spokesman Oumar Yaya Hissein said that the ban had been imposed for “security reasons”.
Rebel movements hostile to President Deby are still active in the country.
According to a security official, the government believes social media could enable rebel leaders to recruit more young people.
There have also been cases of civilians capturing unlawful killings and beatings and publishing them online, which the government is keen to stop.
A group of Chadian lawyers took telecommunication companies to court in August 2018 in an attempt to restore social media access but lost the case. The lawyers appealed but the appeal court on Thursday March 29 dismissed their case, citing “security reasons” for the social media cut.
The collective of lawyers, lead by Daïnoné Frédéric and Frédéric Nanadjingué, have said they will now try to get the ban overturned by appealing to international authorities. — NNN-AGENCIES