Chad's main opposition candidate Saleh Kebzabo
In the Central African nation of Chad, political developments ahead of upcoming polls have triggered the blocking of internet connectivity since late last month.
Internet rights group NetBlocks confirmed the outage in a statement that read in part: "... internet connectivity has been severely disrupted in Chad since the morning of Sunday 28 February 2021 amid reports of a deadly armed raid at the house of opposition candidate Yaya Dillo."
"Metrics show national connectivity disrupted from approximately 9:00 a.m. local time falling to 60% of ordinary levels by 9:30 a.m., corroborating user reports of difficulty getting online from capital N’Djamena.
"The incident is ongoing through Monday with only a slight rise in connectivity observed since time of onset. The disruption has regional variation and impacts major cellular networks Airtel and Tigo as well as some fixed-line services," NetBlocks statement added.
24 hours after the incident, main opposition candidate Saleh Kebzabo announced a boycott of the presidential election set for 11 April.
The veteran opposition leader accused the incumbent, Idriss Déby Itno, of using force to intimidate rivals.
Kebzabo in making the announcement on Twitter cited the violent incidents at the house of a fellow opposition leader, Yaya Dillo, which incident claimed two lives.
"The climate of insecurity... will definitely overshadow the electoral campaign of candidates confronting (Déby's) Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS)," he said.
President Déby took charge of the country in 1990 via a military coup. He is currently serving his fifth term and will be running for a sixth.
