NAIROBI: Internet services in South Sudan were disrupted on Monday and security forces were deployed on the streets, which were quieter than usual as residents sheltered inside after activists had called for protests against President Salva Kiir’s government.
With Kiir scheduled to address lawmakers at parliament’s opening session on Monday morning, a coalition of activist groups reiterated their call on Sunday for public rallies demanding he resign. However, there was no sign early on Monday of major street gatherings in the capital Juba. Some activists told Reuters they were in hiding for security reasons.
Police said the activists had not sought permission to protest, and therefore any large demonstration would be illegal.
“We deployed the forces at least to keep order in case of any problem. Those forces are in the streets for your safety,” police spokesperson Daniel Justin Boulogne said.
In televised remarks to an elite unit on Sunday, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Lt Gen. James Pui Yak said authorities would not “harm anybody” to break up demonstrations.
“They are just going to advise people ... to go on with their normal lives, we don’t want any disruption.”
Residents in Juba told Reuters that as of Sunday evening mobile data was unavailable on the network of South African mobile operator MTN Group, and by Monday morning it was also halted on the network of Kuwait-based operator Zain Group.
Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, a London-based group that monitors Internet disruptions, said it detected “significant disruption to Internet service in South Sudan beginning Sunday evening, including to leading cellular networks.”
Deputy Information Minister Baba Medan told Reuters he could not comment immediately on the reported shutdown, as he was busy attending the opening of parliament. MTN did not immediately respond to a comment request. A spokesperson for Zain said he was checking with the South Sudan office.
Activist Jame David Kolok, whose Foundation for Democracy and Accountable Governance is one of the groups that called for the demonstration, told Reuters that the Internet shutdown was a sign “the authorities are panicking.”
The activists accuse Kiir’s government of corruption and failing to protect the population or provide basic services. Kiir’s government has repeatedly denied allegations from rights and advocacy groups of abuses and corruption.
Internet disrupted, streets quiet in South Sudan after call for protests
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Internet disrupted, streets quiet in South Sudan after call for protests
Le Pen appeal trial opens with French presidential bid at stake
- Le Pen, 57 entered the packed courtroom on Tuesday afternoon flanked by two lawyers
- If the court upholds the first ruling, Le Pen will be barred from running in the 2027 election
PARIS: The appeal trial of Marine Le Pen opened Tuesday, with the French far-right leader hoping to overthrow a graft conviction and save her 2027 run for president.
The appeal comes after a French court last year barred her from running for office for five years over a European Parliament fake jobs scam involving her and other officials from her National Rally party.
The three-time presidential candidate was also handed a four-year prison sentence, with two years suspended, and fined 100,000 euros ($116,000).
Le Pen, 57, who has always maintained her innocence, entered the packed courtroom on Tuesday afternoon flanked by two lawyers, in the hopes of clearing the way for a fourth bid to become president.
If the court upholds the first ruling, Le Pen will be barred from running in the 2027 election, widely seen as her best — and possibly last — chance to win the country’s top job.
She again risks the maximum sentence — 10 years in prison and a one-million-euro ($1.16 million) fine — if the appeal fails.
She could, however, still be a candidate if she is sentenced to a shorter ban and no time to serve under house arrest.
Earlier on Tuesday, Le Pen said she was hopeful the court would listen to her side of the story.
The hearing is expected to last a month, with a decision expected this summer.
Twelve of the accused, as well as the far-right party itself, have appealed against the verdict.
Another 12 people — including one of Le Pen’s sisters — have decided to accept their convictions without appealing. Another person sentenced has since died.
- Risk of reoffending -
The initial verdict dealt a heavy blow to Le Pen and the RN, which has surged in French politics in recent years.
The court found her guilty — along with 24 former European Parliament lawmakers, assistants and accountants as well as the party itself — of operating a “system” from 2004 to 2016 using European Parliament funds to employ RN staff in France.
Le Pen walked out of the courtroom during the sentencing, later slamming the verdict as a “political decision.”
The judges defended the decision to bar her from running, saying elected officials should not benefit from “preferential treatment” and citing the risk of reoffending.
The news sparked shock among Le Pen supporters in France, while the US President Donald Trump and the Kremlin expressed concern.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said last week he hoped Le Pen could run for president despite her legal troubles so her election could help “break” the European Union.
- Bardella in the wings -
Le Pen took over the former National Front (FN) from her father Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2011 and has since sought to clean up the party’s image.
Her father, who died in January, was often accused of making racist and antisemitic comments.
After coming third in the 2012 presidential polls, Marine Le Pen made the run-off in 2017 and 2022 but was beaten by Emmanuel Macron on both occasions.
Yet 2027 could see a different outcome for the far right, with Macron barred from standing again under France’s constitution.
Some 42 percent of French people said they agreed with “ideas defended by the RN,” up from 29 percent before the 2022 vote, according to a poll by consultancy firm Verian for Le Monde published on Sunday.
If she cannot be a candidate, Le Pen has said her top lieutenant Jordan Bardella — the RN party’s president who is not a defendant in the trial — can run in her place.
“Bardella can win instead of me,” Le Pen said in December.
A poll in November predicted that Bardella would win the second round of the 2027 elections, no matter who stands against him.
But Bardella said on Monday that a ruling preventing Le Pen from running “would be deeply worrying for democracy” and insisted he was not so far a candidate for president but prime minister.
