AFRICAN COUNTRIES THAT SHUT DOWN THE INTERNET ARE NOT GOOD SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Are you periodically assessing Country Risk on African countries, on a regular basis ? Well, do not look to any of the nations on the list contained within this article, for they all have a history of turning off the Internet Service Providers (ISP) that service their countries, during election time, or any time there is a domestic problem. This week, the West African nation of Gabon turned off the Internet, lest their people report the truth, about political misconduct during elections.

This means that you cannot rely upon local whistleblowers to file accurate reports on negative news items. If you want accurate Country Risk calculations for these countries, use outside sources.

Name and shame:

(1) Gabon
(2) Uganda
(3) Burundi
(4) Ethiopia
(5) Chad
(6) Republic of the Congo

Note that officials in Ghana have threatened to close social media websites, during periods of unrest, but this has not yet been reported as having actually be put into operation.

Rule of thumb: use outside, reliable sources for these countries, when making Country Risk assessments.