Welcome back too World Brief, where we’re looking at violent clashes following a crucial vote in Uganda, new trade commitments between canada and China, and U.S. congressional support for Danish control of Greenland.
Uganda’s ‘Ominous’ Election
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Incumbent Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni claimed a commanding lead on Friday in the country’s disputed presidential election held Thursday. According to the country’s Electoral Commission, Museveni has secured more than 75 percent of votes from nearly half of polling stations-sweeping main challenger Bobi Wine, who holds less than 20 percent of votes, as well as six other candidates. According to electoral chief Simon Byabakama,the final results will be announced by 5 p.m. local time on Saturday.
Some polling stations reported delayed openings due to the telecommunications shutdown.
rights groups lambasted the blackout as a violation of democratic practices during a critical moment for Uganda. “It creates an details vacuum and a digital darkness that may provide cover for the perpetration of serious human rights violations,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s East and Southern Africa regional director. “The fact that no end date for the internet shutdown has been given is also ominous.”
Locals reported the arbitrary detention of hundreds of supporters of Wine in the lead-up to the vote,and according to the opposition National Unity Platform on Thursday,Wine’s home in Kampala was surrounded by security forces,”effectively placing him and his wife under house arrest.” Following Uganda’s 2021 presidential election, during which Wine secured 35 percent of the vote, state authorities also confined the opposition figure to his home for several days.
Wine has alleged mass fraud in Thursday’s election and has called on his supporters to protest the results. As then, at least seven people have been killed and 25 others have been arrested during overnight clashes in the Ugandan town of Butambala. The U.S. Embassy in Uganda issued an alert on Friday following reports that security forces were “using teargas and firing into the air to disperse gatherings.”
On Friday, police spokesperson Lydia Tumushabe accused machete-wielding “goons” working for the opposition and organized by local parliamentarian Muwanga Kivumbi of attacking a police station and a vote-tallying center. She maintains that the deaths occurred outside during the clashes. However, Kivumbi told Reuters that 10 people were killed while waiting for the election results inside his home.
“They broke the front door and began shooting inside the garage,” Kivumbi said. “It was a massacre.”
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