In Uganda, press freedom has suffered a brutal blow. On the night of Saturday, June 27th to Sunday, June 28th, the country's main independent media group was forced to cease operations. On the orders of General Muhoozi Kainerugaba,

Chief of the armed forces and son of President Yoweri Museveni, soldiers are now surrounding the premises of the main news outlets in Kampala.

The general himself officially announced the measure on the social network X:

" NTV and Monitor are closed as of today. "

Fully embracing this authoritarian drift, the army chief openly declared that he "did not believe in freedom of the press," while specifying that this operation had received the direct approval of his father, the President of the Republic.

Newsrooms "besieged" and silenced

On social media, the television channel NTV Uganda and the daily newspaper Daily Monitor quickly alerted the public, claiming to be "besieged by the army".

The impact on the media landscape is massive. Several of the group's channels and stations were shut down simultaneously:

1. Television: NTV Uganda and Spark TV (screens displaying a "video unavailable" message).
2. Print and digital media: The Daily Monitor newspaper.
3. Regional radio and press: Dembe FM , KFM stations and the weekly newspaper The East African .

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a veteran journalist from the NTV channel testified to AFP:

"No one is allowed to enter or leave. Those who worked last night have been ordered to leave by the army."

A targeted crackdown against the backdrop of political succession

This crackdown comes amid a climate of increased repression. For several months, General Kainerugaba has been carrying out a series of arrests of political opponents and activists. Observers in the region believe this offensive aims to consolidate his power and pave the way for his own succession as head of state.

This is not the first time the media group has faced such a blow. In 2013, the Daily Monitor was suspended for 13 days for revealing a secret plan to install Muhoozi Kainerugaba in his father's presidential seat.

"This is just the beginning."

The army chief does not intend to stop there. On Sunday, he warned on his social media that this wave of closures was " only the beginning " and that the army would " arrest many more people ".

Faced with these threats, the Africa program of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemned a worrying escalation of censorship. As a reminder, Uganda already ranks near the bottom in terms of freedom of information, placing 143rd out of 180 in the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report.