About Uganda

History of Uganda

Uganda (official name, Jamhuri ya Uganda or Republic of Uganda) is bordered on the north by Sudan, on the east by Kenya, on the south by Tanzania and Rwanda and to the west the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a member of the Commonwealth.

Uganda was made up of four kingdoms and many tribes and was a key point of European rivalry before its transfer to Britain in 1890.

In the 1,500 years before the arrival of Europeans, the Lakes Region of Africa, with its temperate climate and good soil was a crossroads of invasions of Bantu farmers and ranchers. There was a fusion of these peoples and towards the fifteenth century Bunyoro was created, the first of the great kingdoms. Over the next two centuries, its armies controlled much of central Uganda.

In the late eighteenth century, during a period of conflict, the governor of Buganda declared independence and the new kingdom quickly became the largest state in lakes region. Two other smaller kingdoms, Ankole and Toro, also became independent of Bunyoro. Buganda was ruled by a semi-divine king (Kabaka) who was advised by a council of great nobles (Lukiko). The land was divided among the nobility and farmed by peasants. Cattle were a symbol of power. The State was defended by a standing army totally subservient to the will of the King. Although powerful, Buganda never completely dominated the other kingdoms and scattered Bantu groups.

The first Europeans to visit Uganda were the British explorers John Hanning Speke and James Grant when they were searching for the source of the Nile in 1862. They were followed by Samuel White Baker and Charles George Gordon who were in command of Egyptian troops. The explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley, who had been welcomed by Kabaka Mutesa I (reigned 1852-1884), reported the king's interest in Christianity, which consequently led to many missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic, arriving in Buganda.

By 1890, the region became the stage for the confrontations between European powers for African territory. Britain, after securing German recognition of their rights, developed a campaign for control of territory, using the Bugandan army to help conquer the other kingdoms and tribes. By 1896 a British protectorate was established over most of the region that adopted the name Uganda. A series of agreements that took place in 1900 established the final details of the governance of Uganda, while ensuring the continuation of the social and political systems. British hegemony in Uganda for nearly 70 years was based on a centralized administrative system superimposed on a federation of kingdoms and tribes. This was maintained until the appearance of independence movements in the 1950s, when Buganda demanded separation from Uganda. Only after the Kabaka Mutesa II was exiled for two years in 1953 was it possible to proceed with the development of a united government.

After numerous experiments, in April 1962 a federal constitution was promulgated. The Uganda People's Congress won the elections and Apollo Milton Obote became Prime Minister. In October 1962, Uganda became independent. However, problems continued and in May 1966 and Obote’s military occupied Buganda, sent Kabaka into exile and proclaimed a new republican constitution, which formally abolished the monarchy. Obote became the first president of a united government of Uganda.

The resistance of Buganda, a worsening economy and allegations of corruption led to a military coup in January 1971. Power went to the commander Idi Amin Dada, who began eight years of government in which he began to eliminate his political opponents through a reign of terror against the people of Buganda, the Lango tribe to which Obote belonged and their neighbors the Acholi. Amin also expelled 60,000 Asians from the country. By 1978 Uganda had gone bankrupt and the government relied on loans from Arab states that supported Amin.

Uganda went to war with neighboring Tanzania in late 1978. Tanzanian forces allied with the Ugandan rebels expelled Amin from the country early the following year. There were three presidents in the interim period before the December 1980 elections took place under a new constitution. The electoral victory went to Obote, who again took the presidency, this time of a country that was in real economic chaos with inflation over 200%, no consumer goods, few jobs, poverty in the north and no effective government in rural areas.

In 1982, after Tanzanian troops had withdrawn, several antigovernment guerrillas appeared and prompting the government to increase the repression. More than 100,000 Ugandans were murdered or died of hunger. A coup in July 1985 ousted Obote from the country. In January 1986, four days of fighting in Kampala led to succession by the leader of the National Resistance Army, Yoweri Museveni.

By 1990, AIDS in Uganda had reached epidemic proportions: there were about 10,000 cases of AIDS and almost one million people were HIV positive.

In May 1994 a new National Assembly was elected to draft a new constitution (which would be enacted in October 1995), and Museveni in May 1996 was confirmed in the polls as the head of state. This was seen as support for his doctrine of "democracy without parties." While the guerrilla activity in large parts of the country remained (like the one orchestrated by the Lord's Resistance Army in the north), Western support allowed some stability and economic development. Museveni was reelected president in elections on March 12, 2001 and on February 23, 2006.