The leader of Uganda’s military — who is also the son of the country’s long-ruling president — ordered the closure of two of the country’s biggest media outlets, in the latest signs of democratic erosion in Africa. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who has been touted as a possible successor to his octogenarian father Yoweri Museveni, said he did not “believe in a free press,” adding that the newspaper and broadcaster, both owned by the Nation Media Group, would only be allowed to reopen with his permission.
Kainerugaba has tightened his grip in recent months, ordering the arrest of politicians and activists before the media clampdown, which the Committee to Protect Journalists called a “deeply troubling escalation.” Press freedoms across Africa are already fragile, with most nations ranking in the lower half of an influential press freedoms index, while numerous recent coups have contributed to a weakening of democratic norms in parts of the continent.