Welcome back to 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
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.
Welcome back to 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
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.
However, reports of widespread repression, voter intimidation, and violence against the opposition have marred Uganda’s election, eliciting fierce condemnation from the United Nations.
Thursday’s presidential election was seen as a test for Museveni, who at 81 years old hopes to extend his 40-year grip on power. Museveni has previously accused the opposition of voter fraud, and he has reorganized the country’s Electoral Commission so that all of its members are hand-chosen by the president. Ahead of the vote, government authorities also imposed an internet blackout to prevent “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” 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 information 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. Since 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.”
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Slashing duties. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping struck an initial agreement in Beijing on Friday to lower tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) and canola. The deal aims to bolster economic relations between Ottawa and Beijing, as Canada seeks to diversify its markets to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war. This was the first visit to China by a Canadian prime minister since 2017.
Under the agreement, Canada will cut its 100 percent tariff on Chinese EV exports and will place an annual cap of 49,000 vehicles to Canada that will grow to around 70,000 over five years. In exchange, China will reduce its duties on Canadian canola from 84 percent to about 15 percent.
However, not everyone in Canada is pleased with the deal. Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned on Friday that “China now has a foothold in the Canadian market and will use it to their full advantage at the expense of Canadian workers,” adding that a flood of cheap Chinese EVs could lead to domestic job losses. Ontario is the country’s main auto-manufacturing province.
Support for Greenland. A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation led by a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee arrived in Copenhagen on Friday to express solidarity with the Danish government. The lawmakers’ visit flies in the face of Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland, which would defy a 1916 agreement with Denmark and violate NATO’s founding principles.
“At a time of increasing international instability, we need to draw closer to our allies, not drive them away,” U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, who co-led the delegation, said this week. During the two-day trip, the 11-member delegation is expected to meet with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenlandic Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen, both of whom have rejected U.S. demands to take control of the resource-rich, strategically located territory.
Also on Friday, Danish and Greenlandic cabinet ministers convened to discuss the island’s military preparedness, just one day after six European nations deployed troops to Greenland to demonstrate that a U.S. takeover is unnecessary to safeguard the Arctic.
Trump maintains that ownership of Greenland is vital for U.S. national security, and he plans to send his new special envoy for Greenland, Jeff Landry, to the island in March to discuss potential acquisition. However, 75 percent of Americans oppose the White House’s efforts to control the Danish territory, according to a CNN poll published Thursday.
Behind bars. A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday to five years in prison for obstructing authorities’ attempts to arrest him following his short-lived martial law order in December 2024. He was also found guilty of fabricating official documents and failing to discuss his martial law order at a formal cabinet meeting before implementing it.
In January 2025, Yoon became the first sitting South Korean leader to be arrested. In the wake of the martial law declaration, Yoon ignored multiple summonses to appear for questioning, leading authorities to issue an arrest warrant. He then appeared to encourage his supporters to form a “human wall” to block investigating officers and police from entering the presidential compound; once they made it inside, they were further blocked by presidential security personnel.
Friday’s ruling—the first related to criminal charges against Yoon—follows South Korean prosecutors requesting earlier this week in a separate trial that the former president be given the death penalty if he is found guilty of orchestrating an attempted insurrection. Seoul has not carried out a death sentence in nearly 30 years.
What in the World?
What reason did the Israeli military give for striking Hezbollah targets in several areas of Lebanon on Thursday?
A. The group was violating the 2024 cease-fire agreement
B. It was firing at Israeli citizens across the southern border
C. It was fighting the Lebanese military to resist disarmament
D. It threatened attacks on Israeli government officials
Odds and Ends
Scientists have discovered the naturally mummified remains of cheetahs in northern Saudi Arabia, according to a new study published on Thursday. Ranging from 130 years old to more than 1,800 years old, the well-preserved specimens gave researchers the ability to extract and sequence the ancient big cats’ genes for the first time. Their findings, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, provide useful insights for conservation and rewilding efforts.
And the Answer Is…
A. The group was violating the 2024 cease-fire agreement
Israel believes Hezbollah is replenishing its weapons stores; it may risk an invasion of Lebanon to disarm the militant group once and for all, FP’s Anchal Vohra writes.
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Great Job Alexandra Sharp & the Team @ World Brief – Foreign Policy Source link for sharing this story.
