Published on 25/01/2025
East Africa Law Society (EALS) has issued a warning to South Sudan’s government, threatening to sue over the partial social media blockade.
EALS argues that the move violates on citizens’ rights to free speech and access to information. The society vows to take the matter to a regional court if the restrictions aren’t lifted.
In a statement, EALS president Ramadhan Abubakar said the blockade of social media is a blatant violation of rights guaranteed under South Sudanese laws and safeguarded under international law.
RELATED: South Sudan Orders 3 Month Social Media Ban Amid Rising Violence
He wants the ban reversed.
“The EALS is alarmed by the decision of the Government of South Sudan, through the National Communication Authority (NCA), to order the partial blockage of all social media platforms within the country for a period of 90 days, effective 22nd January 2025,” Mr Abubakar said.
“Should the NCA fail to rescind its order in reasonable time, the EALS will be compelled to join the South Sudan Bar Association and other actors in taking legal action at the East African Court of Justice and at other international avenues.”
Customers of mobile service operators MTN South Sudan and Zain have been barred from accessing Facebook, TikTok and other platforms for a maximum period of 90 days, the companies said in statements issued on Wednesday.
The NCA said that the decision was prompted by the recent “upheaval in South Sudan that has exposed the South Sudanese population to unprecedented levels of extreme violence through social media posts.”
But the EALS has condemned the directive, standing in solidarity with the South Sudan Bar Association (SSBA) in calling for its immediate withdrawal.
“While we recognise the government’s concerns on public safety, the use of internet shutdowns and social media restrictions represents a grave and disproportionate response that violates fundamental rights of South Sudanese citizens,” Mr Abubakar said.
“EALS concurs with our sister Bar, the SSBA, that this decision is a gross violation of the right to freedom of expression as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which states that ‘everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’”
South Sudanese authorities defended the decision to suspend access to social media for a minimum of 30 days after videos depicting the killing of alleged South Sudanese nationals in Sudan’s Gezira state triggered riots and deadly revenge attacks on Sudanese businesses in South Sudan. At least 19 people were killed last week.
The blockade was implemented from midnight on Wednesday, after Napoleon Adok Gai, director-general of the NCA, to internet service providers directing it.
“For the last three days there have been a number of events that the country has witnessed leading into the protests that resulted in the looting of public properties and targeting certain nationals across the country. We took the action in compliance with section 9(g)emphasizing on us to guard public interest with regard to internet activities,” Mr Adok in an interview with the media.
“We realised that some of the social media platforms were continuing to circulate inflammatory content that we found contravening values and cultures of our country. We are mandated by the law to watch out those things and take appropriate measures.”
Mr Adok said that the government consulted with the social media platform owners before taking the action.
“Our directives were to suspend the Facebook and TikTok features specifically, not the entire social media. We all understand social media is much broader than those two, but we targeted those two applications because they have a high volume of video sharing in our country for this sensitive period where our people are going through,” Mr Adok said.
