About Uganda

Landscape

Uganda has an area of 241,038 km ² which includes the Lakes George and Kyoga, parts of Lakes Victoria, Edward and Albert and the River Nile from its source in Lake Victoria to Nimule, on the border with Sudan. The land area is very diverse, with elevated plains, great forests, low marshes, arid depressions and snow-capped mountain peaks. The highest of which is Margherita peak (5109 m) in the Ruwenzori mountains in the southwest of the country. Much of the south is covered by forests and most of the north by savannah grasslands.

Climate

Despite being located along the Ecuador, Uganda has a mild and uniform climate, due in large part to its high altitude. Temperatures vary from about 19.6 º C to 29 º C and annual rainfall ranges from about 760 mm in the northeast to about 1,500 mm near Lake Victoria.

Resources

The most important natural resource is Uganda’s rich soil which provides the basis for a diversified agricultural economy in the country. Furthermore, Uganda has deposits of gold, copper, tin and tungsten and sufficient water resources to produce hydroelectric power.

Flora and fauna

Uganda has a wide variety of plant life, from the mvuli trees and elephant grass of the plateau of Uganda to the dry thorny bushes, acacia and euphorbia in the Southwest. The country also provides a good habitat for many animals, some of which are protected in national parks. The chimpanzee inhabits the forests, while elephants and rhinoceroses, lions and leopards can be found in the grasslands.

Environment

Uganda is among the poorest of African nations. Access to safe water and health care is limited, and in recent years cases of cholera have increased as a result. The average life expectancy is one of the lowest in the world. Extreme poverty has contributed to severe environmental damage in the country. Civil unrest during the seventies and eighties led to very poor soil conservation practices and a thriving poaching industry. Since the mid-eighties as the political situation in Uganda has improved poaching has slowly curbed. However, soil erosion, overgrazing and desertification continue, as a population growing at a rate of 3.6% (2008) per annum, tries to subsist through agriculture. About 69% (2003) of Uganda's population works in agriculture, forestry or fishing. In order to gain more land for agricultural use, they have knocked down many forests and wetlands have dried up. Of forested land in Uganda, 1.76% (1990-2005) is destroyed each year, partly because 89.7% (1997) of the country's energy requirements are fulfilled by burning wood.

Uganda is located in an area of rich biodiversity, covering four regions of vegetation. The country provides habitat for 830 species of birds and 338 species of mammals. About 26.3% (2007) of the national territory is protected as parks or nature reserves. Uganda has ratified international agreements aimed at protecting biodiversity, endangered species, marine life, wetlands and the ozone layer. The country has also signed treaties limiting nuclear testing, chemical and biological weapons, and trade in endangered animal species.

Population

Almost all people in Uganda are black. About two-thirds of the population speak Bantu languages, live in the southern half of the country and cover the following ethnic groups: Ganda, Soga, Nyoro, Nkole and Toro. Most of the rest of the population speaks a Nilotic language, lives in the north and are from the ethnic groups of the Acholi, the Lango and the Karamojong. Uganda's population in 2008 was 31,367,972 inhabitants, meaning a population density of some 157 inhabitants per km ². The capital and largest city of Uganda is Kampala (population in 2003, 1.25 million inhabitants), which is located very near to Lake Victoria. Other major cities include Jinja (86 520 inhabitants), Mbale (70 437 inhabitants), Entebbe (57 518 inhabitants) and Gulu (42 800 inhabitants). About three quarters of the people in Uganda are Christians and about 16% Muslim, while the rest follow traditional religions. English is widely used and also the official language along with Swahili. Numerous indigenous languages are also spoken.

Education

Uganda's education system follows the British model largely due to the mission schools playing an important role in the education of the population. In 2000, 6,525,515 students attended 11,578 primary schools and 605,220 students were enrolled in over 900 secondary schools, technical and teacher training institutes. Makerere University (1922) and the Uganda Technical College (1954), both located in Kampala, are the most important higher education institutions. Uganda's major libraries are the National Reference Library and National Library of Medicine, which belong to Makerere University. The most important museums are the Museum of Uganda (with collections of archeology, ethnology, music and science) in Kampala, and the Geological Museum and Zoo, located in Entebbe.

Economy

Uganda's economy depends heavily on agriculture and much of the farms are subsistence evel. The country's economic development is hampered by several negative factors. First, major cash crops, such as cotton and coffee, are dependent on a fluctuating world market. The country lacks a seaport and has few mineral resources. In addition, the internal political situation during the 1970s and 1980s led to political clashes that have reduced economic cooperation with its East African neighbors, Kenya and Tanzania, also negatively affected by drought that began in the north in the end of the 1970s.

Gross domestic product in 2008 was U.S. $ 15.829 million, equivalent to $500 per capita . The agricultural sector is dominant in the economy of Uganda. The main crops, coffee and cotton, account for over 90% of the annual value of exports. Uganda also produces hard woods to export, especially mahogany. The annual cut in 2006 was approximately 117,000 cubic meters of wood, of which over 85% was used as fuel. The major rivers and lakes of Uganda are commercially exploited and have a high level of local consumption. The main species caught are Tilapia and Nile Perch.

Copper production, traditionally the most important, declined sharply during the 1980s. In 2002 the annual production of tin ore (metal content) was only 20 tons. To a lesser extent phosphate, salt, tungsten, beryl, and gold are also produced.

Much of Uganda's manufacturing industry is located in the area of Kampala-Jinja-Tororo and is related to the transformation of the country's agricultural production. In the 1960s, larger scale commodities such as textiles, footwear, processed food, beer, soft drinks and matches began to be produced.

Electricity production in Uganda comes mostly from hydroelectric plants, among which are the Owen Falls Extension project on the Victoria Nile, and plants on the Kagera and Kiruruma rivers.

The new currency is the Uganda shilling which in 2009 averaged a rate of just over 2000 UGX to one USD, issued by the Bank of Uganda, which was founded in 1966. There are several foreign banks operating in the country, and several state-owned national banks.

The cost of Uganda's imports usually exceeds the value of their exports, an imbalance has been increasing dramatically since 2004. In 2008, annual exports were estimated at $ 1.6 billion USD and imports at 4.5 billion USD. This level of imports is four times higher than the average cost of imports from 1994 – 2004 and more than double 2005 . The main export is coffee by a wide margin over the next two biggest exports of cotton and tea. The leading imports are transportation equipment, petroleum, raw and processed metal, machinery, paper and paper products, food and cotton textiles. Uganda main trading partners are Kenya, the United States, Britain, Italy and Germany. With its beautiful scenery, tourism was an important industry before the political turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s reduced the visits of foreigners. Uganda, with Kenya and Tanzania, was a member of the East African Community, an organization created to promote economic cooperation and development, until it was disbanded in 1977 after numerous conflicts between its three members.

Uganda has about 6230 km of paved roads and 22,100 km of other roads. The country has 259 km of railways in operation and is linked by rail to the Indian Ocean through Kenya. In Lake Victoria there are boats between Uganda to the Kenyan and Tanzanian ports. The national airline is Uganda Airlines, the main international airport at Entebbe. The government runs Radio Uganda, which broadcasts in English, French, Arabic and various African languages. The government's official daily newspaper, New Vision, is published in Kampala.

Government

Executive power is vested in the President, who is the head of state. Government policies are decided by a cabinet of the president, the vice president and ministers, who are appointed by the president but must receive parliamentary approval. The president also appoints the vice president who is also subject to the approval of the legislature.

Legislative power rests in a unicameral parliament consisting of 308 members who serve terms of five years. The main courts in Uganda are the High Court and the Court of Appeals. The Ugandan Army was reorganized in the early 1980s, which did not prevent unruly militant groups from claiming the lives of thousands of civilians. The regular army then became part of the National Resistance Army, after the latter took power in January 1986.