The debate over the role of social media in fueling mass uprisings has gained momentum in Africa after the government of Cameroon apparently blocked MTN from offering Twitter via SMS.Last week, MTN Cameroon reported on its Twitter page that it had suspended its Twitter via SMS service. "We can't comment further than 'security reasons' on #Government instructions," according to a message on the Twitter pageof Georges Mpoudi Ngole, MTN Cameroon's CIO.

The government has not issued an official statement on the matter.
Twitter via SMS lets users send messages at the cost of a local text message. The service allows users without access the Internet to update their status messages. Twitter service via Web-connected PCs in Cameroon remains uninterrupted.
Social media has played a major role in uprisings in North Africa, including the popular movement in Egypt that unseated President Hosni Mubarak. The phenomenon is said to worry other African leaders.
"Over the years, Cameroonians abroad have used social media to organize anti-government rallies in Europe and the United States that have embarrassed and infuriated the regime," said Dibussi Tande, a Cameroonian Blogger, via e-mail.
MTN holds 62 percent of the market in Cameroon. The majority of users in Africa do not have Internet-enabled phones and although Twitter usage is not very common, local media reported that the MTN SMS service was receiving 1,500 Twitter messages a day. However, the ban has been viewed as a pre-emptive strike against building of a stronger movement.
"As far as the government is concerned, banning mobile Twitter in a country that has over 6 million mobile phone subscribers is a pre-emptive move to prevent the building of a formidable digital activist community," added Tande.
Cameroon was among the first African countries to launch Twitter via SMS. Last week, the service was launched in Kenya and Nigeria through Safaricom and Airtel.