TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1901> <link 89TT2902> <title> Uganda--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Southern Africa Uganda </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> When Arab traders moved inland from their enclaves along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa and reached the interior of Uganda in the 1830s, they found several African kingdoms with well-developed political institutions dating back several centuries. These traders were followed in the 1860s by British explorers searching for the source of the Nile River. The first to reach the region of Uganda and Lake Victoria was Captain John Speke, who arrived in 1862. Protestant missionaries entered the country in 1877 and were followed by Catholic missionaries in 1879. In 1888, control of the nascent British sphere of interest in East Africa was assigned by royal charter to the Imperial British East Africa Company, an arrangement strengthened in 1890 by an Anglo-German agreement confirming British dominance over Kenya and Uganda. The high cost of occupying the territory caused the company to withdraw in 1893, and its administrative functions were taken over by a British commissioner. In 1894, the Kingdom of Buganda was placed under a formal British protectorate, extended in 1896 to cover most of what is now Uganda. Subsequent minor boundary adjustments over the next half century included the transfer in 1902 of part of the territory to what is now Kenya. The British protectorate period began to change formally in 1955, when constitutional changes leading to Uganda's independence were adopted. The changes included the establishment of a ministerial system of government under which indigenous Ugandans were appointed ministers. In 1958, the number of African members in the Legislative Council was increased through direct elections. Special reports on constitutional development preceded the London Constitutional Conference of September 1961, which established the timetable for independence. Political problems arose because of Buganda's claim to special treatment as the politically dominant kingdom. A temporary solution was achieved through the 1962 Independence Constitution, creating a special federal relationship between Buganda and the Uganda Governments. This allowed Buganda to retain much of its autonomy and many traditional prerogatives. The smaller kingdoms of Ankole, Bunyoro, and Toro also were granted similar autonomy under the constitution but on a smaller scale. The first general elections in Uganda, held in 1961, were boycotted by the Buganda Government. In the country at large, two major political parties competed--the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), led by Apollo Milton Obote and the Democratic Party (DP), headed by Benedicto Kiwanuka. The DP narrowly won the elections, and Kiwanuka became the chief minister of Uganda. The British Government granted internal self-government to Uganda on March 1, 1962, and Kiwanuka became the first prime minister. Another general election was held in April 1962, in which the UPC formed a political alliance with Buganda traditionalists, the Kabaka Yekka (KY). The UPC won the most parliamentary seats but not an absolute majority. Through the UPC alliance with KY, Obote formed a coalition government and headed it as prime minister. This government led Uganda to full independence on October 9, 1962, with a British Governor General representing the Queen of Great Britain as the symbolic head of state. Under the coalition government, the Ugandan constitution was amended in September 1963, to provide for election of a president and vice president by Uganda's parliament. Uganda continued to be a full member of the Commonwealth. The Kabaka (king) of Buganda, Sir Edward Frederick Mutesa II, was elected Uganda's first president, and Prime Minister Obote continued to exercise executive government powers. In succeeding years, the UPC-KY coalition deteriorated, and the UPC gained strength in the parliament and established one-party rule through defections from the KY and the opposition Democratic Party. Supporters of a centralized state vied with those in favor of a loose federation and a strong role for tribally based local governments. Complicated political maneuvering in late 1965 and early 1966 climaxed in February 1966, when Prime Minister Obote suspended the Independence Constitution, and assumed all government powers, and removed the president and vice president. In April 1966, the parliament ratified a new constitution by which Obote became an executive president with wide powers, and the Kingdom of Buganda Government lost its semiautonomous powers. In September 1967, a new constitution was promulgated that proclaimed Uganda a republic, gave the president even greater powers, and abolished the traditional kingdoms. Buganda was divided into four districts, administered directly by the national government. On January 25, 1971, Obote's government was ousted in a military coup led by Armed Forces Commander Idi Amin Dada. Amin declared himself president, dissolved the parliament, and amended the constitution to give himself absolute power. Idi Amin's 8-year rule was marked by economic decline, social distintegration, and massive human rights violations. The Acholi and Langi tribe were particular objects of Amin's political persecution because Obote and many of his supporters belonged to those tribes. In 1978, the International Commission of Jurists estimated that more than 100,000 Ugandans had been murdered during Amin's reign of terror; some authorities place the figure much higher. In October 1978, Tanzanian Armed Forces repulsed an incursion of Amin's troops into Tanzanian territory. The Tanzanian force, with the backing of Ugandan exiles, waged a war of liberation against Amin's troops and Libyan soldiers sent to help him. On April 11, 1979, Kampala was captured, and Amin fled with his remaining forces through the eastern and northern parts of the country. Immediately after Amin's removal, the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) formed an interim government with Yusuf Lule as president. This government adopted a ministerial system of administration and created a quasi-parliamentary organ known as the National Consultative Commission (NCC). The NCC and the Lule cabinet comprised persons of widely differing political ideologies. In June 1979, following a dispute over the extent of presidential powers, the NCC replaced President Lule by majority vote with Godfrey Binaisa. In a continuing dispute over the powers of the interim presidency, Binaisa was removed in May 1980. Thereafter, until the December 1980 elections, Uganda was ruled by a military commission with Paulo Muwanga as its chairman. The December 1980 elections returned the UPC to power under the leadership of President Obote, with Muwanga serving as vice president of both the UPC and the country. Under the Obote government, the security forces subsequently had one of the world's worst human rights records in their efforts to stamp out an insurgency led by Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA), laying to waste a substantial section of the country, especially in the Luwero area north of Kampala. Obote ruled until July 21, 1985, when an army brigade in rebellion, composed mostly of Acholi troops and commanded by Lt. Gen. Basilio Olara-Okello, took Kampala and proclaimed a military government. Obote fled, finally being granted exile in Zambia. The new regime, headed by former defense force commander Gen. Tito Okello (no relation to Lt. Gen. Olara-Okello), promptly opened negotiations with the insurgent forces of Yoweri Museveni and pledged to improve respect for human rights, end tribal rivalry, and conduct free and fair elections. In the meantime, massive human rights violations continued as the Okello government also murdered civilians and laid waste to the countryside in an effort to destroy the NRA's support. Negotiations between the Okello government and the NRA were conducted in Nairobi in the fall of 1985, with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi playing a leading role seeking a cease-fire and a coalition government in Uganda. Although agreeing in late 1985 to a cease-fire, the NRA continued fighting, seized Kampala in late January 1986, and assumed control of the country after forcing Okello to flee north into Sudan. Museveni's forces thereafter organized a government with Museveni as president. Since assuming power, the NRA-led government has largely put an end to the human rights abuses of earlier governments, has established a human rights commission to investigate previous abuses, and has instituted wide-ranging economic reforms after consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. At the same time, the NRA has had difficulty establishing control in the northern and eastern districts of the country. In the north, remnants of Okello's UNLA have waged guerrilla war in the countryside, and in the east, elements seeking the return of Obote have conducted terrorist operations. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, March 1988. </body> </article> </text>