Reuters – A little-known offline messaging app launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has emerged as a key lifeline for Ugandans cut off from the internet ahead of a contentious election that could extend President Yoweri Museveni’s four-decade rule.
Bitchat has surged to the top of Apple and Google app stores in the African country after clocking more than 28,000 downloads this year, according to research firm Apptopia. That marks a nearly fourfold increase over the previous two months combined.
Ugandan authorities cut internet access and limited mobile services across the country on Tuesday, two days before an election in which President Yoweri Museveni will stand for a contentious seventh term after four decades in power.
The Uganda Communications Commission ordered mobile service providers to shut down public internet connections from 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday in order to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks”, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Security forces have detained hundreds of opposition supporters in the run-up to the election and repeatedly fired live bullets and tear gas at campaign events in support of Museveni’s leading challenger, pop star Bobi Wine.
“The UCC acknowledges the operational challenges this directive may impose and appreciates your full cooperation in upholding national stability during this sensitive period,” the UCC said in the letter dated Tuesday and addressed to Licensed Mobile Operators and Internet Service Providers.
The 81-year-old Museveni, who came to power in 1986 after leading a five-year rebellion, is Africa’s third-longest ruling head of state.
He has changed the constitution twice to remove age and term limits, and his dominance of Ugandan institutions means there is little prospect of an election upset in the East African country of 46 million people, political analysts say.
