Uganda: Power outages occur nationwide May 9

Event

The Uganda Electricity Transmission Company announced on Saturday, May 9, that power had been lost and resulted in a nationwide blackout. Reports indicate that the outages occurred as a result of a fault in Kenya's power supply; Kenya and Uganda have interconnected power grids. On Friday, May 8, Ugandan power distributor Umeme announced that electricity load shedding was due to take place from 09:00 to 17:00 (local time) between Saturday and Monday, May 11, but it is not clear if this contributed to the outages. 

Further outages are possible over the near term.

Advice

Individuals in the affected areas are advised to monitor the situation, keep battery-operated devices fully charged whenever possible, and to be cautious when driving or crossing streets if traffic signals are not functioning.