Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has revealed that authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have shut down internet access and SMS service for mobile phones throughout the country following nationwide demonstrations that led to deadly clashes with the police.
In a statement issued late Thursday evening and obtained here by PANA, CPJ said internet and mobile phone service providers, including major companies like Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo, and Orange, were ordered to shut down since Tuesday.
All the companies therefore reportedly had to comply and suspend internet access and SMS services throughout the country.
“By shutting down Internet and messaging services and blocking websites, Congolese authorities are denying citizens their fundamental right to communicate and to receive and impart information,” said CPJ’s Africa Programme Coordinator, Sue Valentine.
“We call on President Joseph Kabila’s government to restore all communications channels and ensure that journalists can cover public demonstrations safely.”
According to the statement, internet service was partially restored on Thursday, but SMS service remained suspended and social media sites remained blocked.
A Congolese official was quoted as saying that the shutdown order was permitted under the country’s telecommunication’s law and that the measure would help prevent more protests.
Protesters around the country reportedly demonstrated during the week against a proposed amendment to electoral laws by President Joseph Kabila which would allow him to run for a third term.
President Kabila has been in power since January 2001 and under the Congolese constitution, a president may serve no more than two terms.
