A palpable sense of fear of electionrelated violence preceded Uganda's February 18 election. Already, there had been reports of supporters of some aspirants for elective positions fighting during political parties' primaries. Either side accused the other of rigging or of having benefitted from rigged polls. As those that had sought legal redress waited for the ruling on their petitions, others resort to violence. In Sembabule District in central Uganda, some people went as far as torching a party office. If people could fight to have their person elected to represent the party in the national polls, what could they do were those candidates to lose the national polls? Worse, perhaps. Many women in Uganda were worried. "When we looked at the indicators and they spelt we were going to have a violent election, the women could not sit back and watch the country catch fire," Jessica Nkuuhe, the national coordinator of Women's Situation Room (WSR), says. So the women invited the Liberiabased Angie Brooks International Centre (ABIC) to Uganda. ABIC copyrighted WSR, and early warning and rapid response mechanism to avert conflict arising out of elections in many African countries. Through WSR, which ABIC has so far "deployed" in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, ABIC helps to mobilise local women to work towards preventing election violence. According to International Court of Justice judge Julia Sebutinde, election violence includes thuggery by individuals or groups, use of force to disrupt political campaigns or meetings, and the use of deadly weapons to intimidate voters. How it works In the run up to polls in countries where WSR has been invited, WSR gets in touch with the countries electoral commissions and police,...