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UGANDA
Brief facts
Population 31.9 million (UN, 2008)
Capital Kampala
Area: 236,040 sq km (93,072 sq miles)
Geography: Landlocked, surrounded by Kenya, D.R. Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, and Tanzania.
Major languages: English (official), Swahili (official), Luganda, various Bantu and Nilotic languages
Major religions: Christianity (c84%) Islam (c14%)
Life expectancy: 51 years (men), 52 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Ugandan shilling = 100 cents (Approx 2,700 Ug. Sh. = £ Sterling)
Main exports: Coffee, fish and fish products, tea; tobacco, cotton, corn, beans, sesame
GNI per capita: US $340 (World Bank, 2007)
History
1862 Speke visited Uganda, followed by other explorers, including Henry Stanley (“Dr. Livingstone I presume….?”)
1880 In “The rush for Africa” Germany relinquished her claim, and the British took over control of the country.
1894 Uganda became a British protectorate.
1962 Milton Obote led Uganda to independence.
1971 Idi Amin led a coup and became dictator, and a reign of terror commenced. About 300,000 people were murdered during this time.
1972 Amin expelled almost all Uganda’s 50,000 Asian citizens, and seized their property.
1979 Civil war. Amin eventually overthrown and exiled.
1980 Obote reassumed power. Approximately another 100,000 people were killed in reprisals etc., and up to another 250,000 – 300,000 died violently.
1982 First case of AIDS diagnosed in Uganda.
1985 Another coup, from which Yoweri Kaguta Museveni eventually emerged as President.
C1990 – date The Lord’s Resistance Army has pursued Civil War. It is estimated that it has abducted c40,000 children; slaughtered hundreds of thousands; and as a result of its activities over 1 million people live in camps for the displaced.
1998-2003 Uganda was involved in a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
2009 Museveni remains President, having brought about democratic reforms and improved human rights; notably curtailing abuse by the police and army; and has been elected and re-elected to the post.
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