• Home
• Africa

Uganda

Uganda Destinations Travel Guide

Language: English, Swahili

Currency: Ugandan shilling (UGX)

Calling Code: +256

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda (in English Republic of Uganda, in Swahili Jamhuri and Uganda) is a sovereign country located in East Africa. Its form of government is that of a presidential republic, whose territory is composed of 111 districts. Its capital and most populated city is Kampala with 1,208,544 inhabitants (2002). The country borders on the southeast with Lake Victoria, on the east with Kenya, on the north with South Sudan, on the west with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and on the southwest with Rwanda and Tanzania. Uganda takes its name from the vanished Kingdom of Buganda that encompassed the southern portion of the country, including the capital, Kampala. Ugandan natives were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations colonized the region.

Travel Destinations in Uganda

History of Uganda

On March 1, 1962, Great Britain granted Uganda self-government, and on October 9, 1962, complete independence. Uganda was proclaimed a unitary state, but at the same time 4 kingdoms (Buganda, Bunyoro, Toro, Ankole) and the territory of Busog received autonomous status.

The government of Uganda was led by Obote, Milton, the leader of the Uganda People’s Congress Party. Since 1963, he also held the posts of ministers of defense and foreign affairs. The King of Uganda Mutes II was appointed President of Uganda.

Immediately after independence in Uganda, problems arose - inter-ethnic clashes, riots in the army, the mass departure of Europeans. Obote introduced state economic planning, expanded the state and cooperative sectors.

In early 1966, Obote ousted King Mutesu from power, arrested several ministers, and appointed himself president of Uganda. September 8, 1967 Obote proclaimed Uganda a republic, abolished all the kingdoms and the power of tribal leaders. Obote conducted nationalization in the economic sector, and created “collective farms” in agriculture. To carry out these reforms, Obote created the paramilitary “National Youth Service” in 1968.

In December 1969, at the conference of the ruling party of the NKU, the "Charter of the Common Man" was announced - the program for building communism in Uganda. In August 1970, officially, by a decision of the Uganda People’s Congress, a one-party regime was established.

On January 25, 1971, when Obote was traveling abroad, the Ugandan army carried out a coup. The military dismissed the parliament, dispersed local councils in areas of the country. The head of state was the 45-year-old Major General Idi Amin Dada of the Kakva tribe, a professional military man who had served in the colonial forces of the British Army since 1946 and had been involved in suppressing the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya.

In August 1972, Amin announced the course of "Ugandanization." First, the property of immigrants from Asia was requisitioned, and then the property of Europeans. People of Indian and Pakistani origin living in Uganda who did not have local citizenship (60 thousand people) were expelled from Uganda.

Amin reoriented Uganda's foreign policy. In 1972, Amin broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. Amin began to make friends with the Arab states, as well as with the USSR, from which he began to receive significant financial assistance. In 1973, Amin defiantly sent a group of Ugandan officers to participate in the next war of Egypt and Syria against Israel. In 1976, Amin broke off diplomatic relations with Britain.

In 1972, armed clashes broke out on the Ugandan-Tanzanian border. Amin made territorial claims against Tanzania and Kenya.

At the same time (in 1972-1975) the army was tripled, a large number of weapons were purchased (from the USSR). Due to increased government spending, Amin froze wages in the public sector, cut funding for social programs and medicine. The discontent of the population became widespread. Amin launched widespread repression. Among the physically destroyed were army officers and even ministers.

In 1975, Amin appropriated the title of Field Marshal, and in 1976 declared himself lifelong president.

In October 1978, Amin’s troops invaded Tanzania. However, the Tanzanian army, armed with Chinese weapons, expelled the invaders and transferred hostilities to Uganda. In March 1979, anti-Amina groups formed the Uganda National Liberation Front. The armed units of the Front began to work together with the Tanzanian army. Amin’s troops were defeated, in April 1979, Tanzanian troops occupied the capital of Uganda, and the Front created an interim government.

In Uganda, a power struggle has unfolded; over the course of the year, two presidents were replaced - Y. Lule and G. Binais. In May 1980, the military junta of the Front took power. She allowed activities in the country of parties, trade unions, public organizations.

In December 1980, parliamentary elections were held. Obote won the party, and he again became president of Uganda. Soon, ethnic conflicts in Uganda escalated, anti-government protests began, organized by various groups. The so-called People’s Resistance Army, led by Museveni, launched a guerrilla war in the west of the country.

In July 1985, a military coup was made, a military junta led by General Basilio Olara-Okello came to power. The parliament was dissolved, the constitution was suspended.