US, Jan. 24 -- When the polls closed on Jan. 15, Uganda's presidential election placed an 81-year-old incumbent back in power for a seventh term - but the mood across the country is far from resolved. President Yoweri Museveni's resounding victory, officially tallied at just over 71 percent of the vote, was swiftly rejected by his youthful challenger and a significant faction of Ugandans who see the outcome as the latest chapter in a long arc of political repression.

In the days after the vote, the capital throbbed with tension. Opposition supporters took to the streets, guarded by memories of past crackdowns. The clashes, marked by the deaths of several demonstrators and the detention of hundreds more, resonated across Kampala's streets...