Andrea Ngombet remembers the moment he saw the internet go dark from afar. It was March 2016, and presidential elections in the Republic of the Congo were underway. 

Ngombet, an outspoken Congolese human rights advocate who lives abroad, was monitoring the situation from his home base in France, checking in regularly with democracy activists on the ground. Then, suddenly, his contacts’ internet and mobile connections went dead and their communication came to a halt. He knew their tenuous virtual connection had flickered out.

After the digital blackout, Ngombet held his breath for updates — to make sure “everyone was ok, not arrested, or, worse, killed.” When he finally heard back from everyone, he felt a rush of relief. “It was a blur,” he recalls of their time in the digital dark.

Five years later, Ngombet has similar concerns about the vulnerability of the country's internet and mobile networks as it heads into another presidential election. Non-military voters will cast their ballots on March 21, and digital rights groups and election monitors are bracing for the possibility of an imminent internet shutdown.