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Mauritania: Internet access back after 10-day blackout

July 5, 2019 at 1:25 am

Mauritanian on a map

Mauritanian authorities restored Internet access on mobile phones late Wednesday after a 10-day blackout.

The authorities had cut off access to the internet on 23 June, following the outbreak of protests and riots against the initial results of the presidential election, which resulted in the victory of the ruling party’s candidate Mohamed Ould El-Ghazouani.

On 28 June, the authorities partially restored internet access, before granting Mauritanians full connectivity on Wednesday night.

Earlier, the government justified cutting off access to the internet as a “precautionary measure for security reasons,” asserting that internet connectivity would be back after making sure that the reasons that prompted the authorities to take such preventative step in the first place are over.

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Nouakchott has returned to stability after days of demonstrations following the presidential elections.

The Mauritanian Ministry of the Interior announced the arrest of 100 foreigners of African nationalities, claiming that the detainees have “participated in the protests.”

On 22 June, former army chief of staff Ould El-Ghazouani won the Mauritanian presidential elections by 52 per cent of votes, while the opposition refused to recognise the results of the elections and considered them “forged.”