Ugandans are scheduled to head to the polls early next year to select a president, parliamentarians, and local officials. But recent reports suggest that a shockingly large number of young Ugandans will simply not be able to participate in the election—a notable irony in one of the world’s youngest countries, where some 77 % of the population is under the age of 25.

At present, the chief prosecutor is looking into whether there are grounds for an ICC investigation in Afghanistan that would primarily focus on the Taliban and Afghani forces but also U.S. military units.

Uganda is heading toward a debt crisis. According to a senior official at the Bank of Uganda, unless the country is able to sustain a growth rate of at least 7 percent—which economic projections show Uganda will not do—the country will default on its payments. As is the case for many African countries, China is Uganda’s largest creditor, making up 39 percent of total debt this past fiscal year. If Uganda defaults, it is unclear how China will react.

Rex Tillerson will make his first trip to Africa as Secretary of State between March 6 and March 13. He will visit five of Africa’s fifty-four countries—Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Americans assume that free, fair, and credible elections are essential to democracy. Elsewhere, however, elections are rigged and serve mainly to consolidate the position of a "big man" and his cronies or to legitimate self-perpetuating elites.