History of Uganda

The history of Uganda is the history of the modern state of Uganda and the previous empires in its territory. While the empires of the Bantu and Hima are still part of the prehistory due to their lack of writing , the written history begins around the middle of the 19th century. The most important powers of this time are the empires of Buganda and Bunyoro . Buganda first came under British influence and in 1896 all of Uganda became a British protectorate. In 1962 it was given independence. The following period can roughly be divided into the reigns of the dictators Milton Obote (1962 to 1971 and 1980 to 1985) and Idi Amin (1971 to 1979) and the more moderate President Yoweri Museveni (since 1986).

Before independence

Early history

Numerous fossil finds in different regions of the East African Rift Valley suggest that significant processes of the incarnation took place in East Africa. For many anthropologists, the area of ​​Uganda and the neighboring countries is considered to be the “cradle of humanity”.

It is believed that Uganda once had a closed tropical rainforest that was populated by pygmy tribes who made their living as hunters and gatherers . About 2000 years ago these tribes were pushed back further and further by the immigration of Cushitic speaking pastoral peoples in the north and finally by agricultural Bantu peoples. Around 100 AD there is said to have been a renewed immigration of pastoral peoples in western Uganda.

Societies developed that relied on the tribe as the most important element.

From the 9th century onwards, larger Bantu communities emerged. Hima who joined later took over the leadership of these communities and built on them. Since the population groups were diverse and very mobile as well as culturally relatively flexible, over the course of time an overlapping and mutual complementation of arable Bantu culture and cattle-raising Hima culture began.

Time of kingdoms

From 10./11. In the 19th century, the Kitara empire was formed under the Batembuzi . Its capital was Bigo Bya Mugenyi . The Batembuzi dynasty was followed by the Bachwezi , who, with their immigration in the 14th century, brought some innovations such as coffee cultivation, iron production and the Ankolerind to Bunyoro. The empire experienced in the 14./15. Century reached its peak and then slowly disintegrated and went into the kingdom of Bunyoro, which is sometimes also called Bunyoro-Kitara.

From around the 15th century, the kingdom of Bunyoro emerged in western Uganda in the area of Lake Albert , which was founded by Nilotic shepherds and was the first of the five larger kingdoms of Uganda. From the 17th century, Buganda began to gain influence on the north-west bank of Lake Victoria , in the 18th century it achieved supremacy over Bunyoro and became the most important of the Ugandan empires. The kings of Buganda, which Kabaka called, strengthened their empire in particular through their raids and trade in ivory , which in the trade with the then on the coast of the later Kenya resident Arabs went. Other, smaller empires were Ankole in the southwest, Busoga in the southeast and Toro , which was between Ankole and Bunyoro. Toro was a province of Bunyoro before it broke away from it in 1822 (final independence from Bunyoro in 1891).

The less fertile north of Uganda, which was populated by Nilotes, was still relatively underdeveloped at that time and was divided into small tribal districts that were subject to frequent migration.

In Buganda, the property was in the hands of the Kabaka, based in Kampala . He placed at the head of the Saza s, each district Buganda, Chiefs , who were responsible for maintaining order, for tax collection, case law and the distribution of land to the peasants in their SAZAS. They belonged to the Bakungu , the higher nobility, and were able to delegate some of their privileges to the members of the Batongole , the lower nobility. These posts of the nobility were not primarily hereditary, but could be determined by the Kabaka. The kabaka was supported by the Lukiko , a council of high nobles who, although they had no fixed right of co-determination, did have an influence on decisions. After all, the Kabaka had a strong war people and a fleet of several hundred war boats, as well as a comparatively good road system.

Bunyoro was headed by the Omukama , who also administered the country through chiefs. In contrast to the Kabaka, it did not have a permanent seat (tombs of the last Omukama near Hoima ).

Growing influence of foreign powers

From about 1840 onwards, Buganda's direct trade relations with the Arabs intensified, who bought slaves and ivory. The smaller empires of Kitara, which had regained a certain autonomy from Bunyoro, and Karagwe in the east also maintained contacts with Arabs. Individual regions were Islamized at this time .

Under the Kabaka Mutesa I , who had held office since 1856, Buganda reached the height of his power. First contacts with European researchers in Africa came about . This happened especially in Buganda, which was more open to foreigners than Bunyoro and the other realms. In 1862 the Kabaka received John Hanning Speke and James Augustus Grant, and in 1875 Henry Morton Stanley . In the 1860s and 1870s, the expansion of the Khedives from Egypt began through Ismail Pascha and Emin Pascha, among others, to reach northern Uganda, who also sent Samuel White Baker to Uganda. In 1877, Anglican missionaries and in 1879 Catholic missionaries came to Uganda for the first time. They came to Uganda at the request of the Kabaka, as he wanted to limit the growing Islamic influence that was spreading to Uganda from the north and west. Parts of the court and council, Lukikos, converted to Christianity. However, he initially limited the work of the missionaries to the capital. Soon after, the first ambassadors from the German Empire , France and Great Britain also arrived. A short time later, the increasing number of Europeans began to evangelize in other areas and quickly destabilize the previous system of rule, as many local leaders tried to increase their influence by approaching the Europeans, whose superior weapon technology meant enormous power and offered opportunities. to play off other rulers. In particular, however, the religious and national animosities of the Europeans among each other, who knew that converted native followers were behind them, led to additional conflicts. The first settlement came about in 1884/1885 when the Congo Conference recognized Great Britain's claims to Uganda. In further contracts in 1886 and in the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty in 1890, the colonial powers regulated the further division of territory. An attempt by Carl Peters to assert German claims north of Lake Victoria through the Uganda Treaty failed. German East Africa was defined as the area of ​​what is now mainland Tanzania , Rwanda and Burundi , while the current states of Uganda and Kenya were combined as British East Africa .

Mwanga II succeeded his father to the throne in 1884. In contrast to the latter, who focused more on balancing out the foreign influences, Mwanga appeared more aggressive. In 1885 he had Bishop James Hannington , who did not enter the country by the usual route, arrested and killed shortly afterwards. All of this led to three bloody civil war episodes between 1887 and 1894. In 1888 Mwanga was deposed after a battle near Mengo and replaced by his half-brother Kiwewa Mutebi II , who was supported by the British. After Mwanga II had signed a protection treaty with Frederick Lugard of the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) in 1890, the British changed support and Mwanga ascended the throne again after Kalema had held the throne for a short time . In 1892 an open conflict broke out between French Catholics, who were close to the idea of ​​taking over rule in Uganda by the German Empire and Carl Peters, since France had no colonial ambitions of its own in East Africa, and British Protestants or their respective local followers the French gained the upper hand. The French were only defeated by Lugard's military intervention. Uganda was exposed to a number of epidemics during these years due to increased contact with the outside world, including rinderpest , sleeping sickness and smallpox .

Kasubi Tombs in Kampala, burial place of the kings of Buganda

The British envoy Sir Gerald Portal came to the country in 1893 and set up his seat in Entebbe , which led to the city later becoming the capital of Uganda. Under his leadership, Great Britain declared Buganda a protectorate, and an extended protection treaty was concluded with Mwanga, which bound Buganda even more closely to Great Britain, which also took over the administration of the area, but which Kabaka initially confirmed as sovereign. In this treaty, however, Mwanga also had to grant military support for Portal's project of subjugating the kingdoms of Toro, Ankole, Busoga and Bunyoro under his ruler Kabalega . The British subsequently defeated Bunyoro and the Acholi region in the north, while Busoga and Ankole signed treaties that sealed British supremacy. Omukama Kasagama von Toro had already asked Frederick Lugard for support against Bunyoro in 1891, which the latter granted by commissioning Major Roddy Owen to gather the Egyptian-Sudanese troops left behind by Emin Pasha after his meeting with Henry Morton Stanley at Wadelai and with them Man chain of forts in west Toros. This also led to the creation of Fort Portal . Mwanga fled in 1897 and started an uprising against the British. In 1898 he was beaten at Kislaira . The throne of Buganda, vacant after the escape, was occupied by the only one-year-old son Mwangas Daudi Chwa II , whose official business was carried out by three ministers appointed by the British.

In 1896, Henry Edward Colville proclaimed the Protectorate of Uganda, and in 1900 Henry Hamilton Johnston finally secured Great Britain's rule with a new treaty, the Buganda Agreement . Part of the areas of Bunyoro was transferred to Buganda and divided among his nobles. Buganda's lands were also now divided between Kabaka and Chiefs (a total of around 3700 members of the nobility), whereby the previous form of land ownership, which corresponded to a fief , changed into a form corresponding to the allod . In 1897 an uprising by Nubian-Egyptian troops had to be put down, which was very costly because Great Britain had to bring in additional troops from British India.

colonization

Organization of Uganda as a British protectorate (borders from 1926). The traditional empires were retained in the red areas and the blue Buganda. In the areas marked in yellow, an administration based on the Buganda model was introduced. There were previously no individual empires in the khaki areas.

In 1902 part of Eastern Uganda (the East Uganda Province ) was separated and incorporated into Kenya, so that the first stage of the Uganda Railway , built in 1901 and ending at Kisumu on the east bank of Lake Victoria , was completely under the control of a single area, Kenya to have. From Kisumu, goods and passengers were initially shipped the last 300 km by steamboat across Lake Victoria to Buganda on the northwest bank. The completion of the railway line was an absolute milestone in the country's development; the cost of transporting goods to be transported to the coast fell by 97%.

The colonial economy was initially limited to the agricultural cultivation of export goods (so-called cash crops ) such as cotton and coffee . The cultivation of cotton in particular was promoted before the First World War and rose from an export volume of 200 pounds sterling in 1905 to 52,000 pounds in 1908 and finally 369,000 pounds in 1915, so that the administration now managed without any financial subsidies from Great Britain. Therefore, the cultivation was expanded to other provinces. The replacement of traditional crops with export-oriented monocultures, however, also led to several famines, so that it can be assumed that the population of the eastern provinces fell from around 1 million to 220,000 between 1890 and 1923.

Since Uganda, unlike neighboring Kenya, was not declared a settler colony, the number of European settlers remained extremely small. The African leaders were able to dispose of land and cheap labor, and the agricultural land remained largely in the hands of the local population and their aristocracy. Nevertheless, through the mission, the Africans quickly adopted the European way of life. The ability to read and write became increasingly widespread, so that as early as 1911 two separate monthly magazines ( Ebifa and Munno ) were published in Luganda . The first colleges such as Mengo High School , St. Mary's Kisubi , Namilyango , Gayaza and King's College Budo were also formed , all of which were in Buganda. In 1922, today's Makerere University was founded in Kampala , which was initially a vocational technical college, from 1938 a high school and from 1950 awarded full university degrees.

After the partial development of the country, which was promoted by the construction of the railways by the British colonial administration, numerous Asians emigrated to Uganda. They quickly took over important places in trade and, to a limited extent, in the country's industry. For some time up to the end of the First World War, the Indian rupee was also the main currency, but it was then replaced by the pound.

The early opening of Buganda to the later colonial powers brought the members of his aristocracy, the chiefs, great advantages after Uganda had received its present size. They were preferred when filling official positions in the areas of the other kingdoms and were mostly owners of the now numerous plantations, since Johnston's treaty of 1900 assigned them about half of the land of Buganda. The position of the chiefs was thereby significantly upgraded and they later belonged to the wealthiest Ugandans, who in some cases had higher incomes than the British governor of Uganda. The center of Buganda around Kampala and Entebbe now became the cultural and economic center of the new state, which was developing well. Winston Churchill's saying about the “Pearl of Africa” also falls during this period . The good development was mainly limited to the south, while the north was neglected, which further aggravated the contrast between the various peoples.

In 1918 the West Nile Province was added to the area of ​​Uganda , giving the country its present-day outline.

In 1920 the governor of the British crown was first appointed a legislative council, whose members were initially appointed by Great Britain. From 1926 onwards, Indians were also represented, but not yet any Africans. Prior to independence, elections were not a priority in Uganda as the colonial government determined the country. At that time there were only elections to the Legislative Council LEGCO, created in 1920 by the colonial government, which was small and consisted only of Europeans. Of its 62 members, five were women who had been appointed MPs.

In the 1930s and 1940s the British issued some ordinances, such as the Native Produce Marketing Ordinance , which were intended to seal off the national trade, which was in the hands of the British and Indians, from the growing black peasantry producing for export.

A first political organization among the blacks existed in 1915 when the Young Baganda Association was founded, which was composed of young, relatively well-educated Baganda, who wanted to exert greater influence over the older generation who sat in the administration. However, like the Uganda African Civil Servants Association of 1922, they also campaigned for the elimination of disadvantages for African traders and officials in general. Landowners organized themselves in the Bulungwe bwa Buganda (from 1934 African Welfare Association ) and in 1939 in the Bana ba Kintu . Their protest against land purchases by the Kabaka government in Buganda and the violent crackdown on their protests led to a general strike in 1944/1945. As a result, some concessions were made to Africans in access to local political bodies.

In 1946 the Bataka Party was founded and in 1947, with Ignatius Musazi's participation, the Uganda African Farmer Union , which fought against trade monopolies in cotton and coffee production. In 1949 they achieved a boycott of cotton producers' sales, which ended in the two organizations being banned. Its leaders then formed the country's first political party, the Uganda National Congress (UNC) , in 1952 , whose demands included a federal constitution, general elections and self-government by Africans.

Road to independence

The pressure on the British grew and, as a concession to the Africans, the proportion of black members in the local representations, the most important of which was Lukiko Bugandas, was steadily increased. After the unrest in 1945, which led to the murder of a Minister Buganda, it was decided that for the first time 31 of 89 seats in Lukiko should be elected. From 1946 onwards, Africans were also admitted to the national legislative council.

Kampala in the early 1950s

Economic liberalization, combined with the positive influences of an overall prosperous world economy, ensured a steady upswing for Uganda. The number of Europeans in the country tripled to 10,000; the number of Asians doubled to 70,000.

In the 1950s, the character of Buganda as a state within a state grew stronger and stronger, and Kabaka Mutesa II worked towards a state that was independent of the rest of Uganda. Governor Andrew Cohen , on the other hand, had an East African federation consisting of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda modeled on the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in mind as a future model, but this was vehemently rejected by the Africans, as it was feared that those in Kenya and Tanzania would be far more numerous white settlers could form a racist minority government similar to Rhodesia. In return, the Kabaka demanded the replacement of Buganda from Uganda. Shortly after he asked Cohen to move Buganda-colonial government relations from the Colonial Office to the Foreign Office, Cohen's ambition became too much. He had the Kabaka exiled in England, which led to unrest in Uganda and an unexpected solidarity among Ugandans.

In 1955, the Progressive Party (PP), which was Protestant, was formed within Buganda . This was instrumental in the negotiations through which Mutesa returned to the throne in 1955 after numerous protests and riots from Baganda since his expulsion after he accepted a constitutional monarchy. Although outwardly curtailed in his position as a constitutional monarch, he had been able to gain influence on some points. For the first time, Mutesa was able to deploy and remove chiefs directly. After that, however, the PP was of little importance. In 1956, Benedicto Kiwanuka founded the Democratic Party (DP), which was based on smallholders and Catholics.

The first direct elections to the Legislative Council took place in October 1958 . At that time, there were voting rights restrictions in the areas of property and educational requirements. Five MPs from the UNC under Obote, one from the DP and seven independents were elected. At the same time, however, the DP with Kiwanuka won the majority in Lukiko.

In 1960 Milton Obote founded the Protestant Uganda People's Congress , which succeeded the UNC, as a counterweight to the Catholic DP . Obote was Lango and therefore against a Buganda hegemony himself. In the same year, Buganda and Lukikos issued a unilateral declaration of independence, which was ignored by Great Britain and initially had no consequences. Some of these Baganda nationalists also sparked several anti-Indian riots in Kampala.

Negotiations with Great Britain had already taken place since 1958, in which the future constitution of Uganda was discussed. After the constitutional talks in London in 1961, nationalist-traditionalist Baganda came together to form the Kabaka Yekka movement (KY, “The Kabaka Alone”). The 1961 elections were held on the basis of less restricted suffrage, allowing more women to participate. Kabaka Yekka boycotted the election on March 23, 1961. This enabled the DP to win most of the seats. This made Kiwanuka the first local head of government in Uganda. UPC and KY found themselves in opposition. At the independence talks, however, Kiwanuka could not enforce his idea of ​​a centralized Uganda, so that on April 25, 1962 another election took place.

In May 1962, Obote became the leader of a UPC / KY coalition, who led it to independence within the Commonwealth on October 9 of the same year as Prime Minister . The Commonwealth was represented by the Governor General Walter Fleming Coutts . Buganda received federal status, the other four traditional empires semi-federal status. Ten other provinces were ruled by central government governors. The capital now became Kampala instead of Entebbe. The unrestricted active and passive right to vote for women was introduced with independence in 1962.

After independence

Under Milton Obote

Uganda formed a republic on October 9, 1963. The office of governor general was abolished and replaced by that of representative president, which was exercised by the Kabaka. However, this was dissatisfied with the representative status, which he came into conflict with Obote.

Milton Obote (center) as President of the Uganda People's Congress Party in 1960 during a visit to the GDR

In 1964 Obote had started nationalizing parts of the economy. Business people should give 60% of their businesses to the state. This was extremely unpopular and caused enormous damage to Uganda's economic power. In addition, it was decided in 1966 to expropriate the large landowners.

A new force in Uganda was the Youth League , a youth organization of the UPC, which, however, felt the UPC was not left enough, acted as a kind of extra-parliamentary opposition , organized strikes and demonstrations and did not shy away from the Interior Minister Onama or the British publisher of the Abduction Uganda Argus . Its power was broken when the UPC reorganized its institutional base and arrested and deported its activists. The Uganda Federation of Labor , which had participated in protests and strikes, was transformed into a party organization, the Federation of Uganda Trade Unions .

In particular, a successful referendum initiated by Bunyoro in November 1964 on the transfer back of the areas lost to Buganda in 1900, which the Kabaka could not accept, heightened the conflict between Mutesa and Obote. Buganda's weakening led to the resignation of his government. With supporters of the DP and KY transferring to the UPC camp, the UPC had a solid majority. In 1965 the Kabaka completely dissolved the KY.

On February 4, 1966, the parliament voted with a majority of the UPC, among other things because of Obote's involvement and his military chief Colonel Idi Amin in illegal business in connection with the Congo conflict. The vote and a subsequent commission of inquiry were initiated by Obote's main rival Grace Ibingira . Obote did not give up his office and suspended the constitution. Five ministers, including Ibingira, were arrested on suspicion of preparing for a coup, and the chiefs were removed from regional parliaments.

With the new constitution, the text of which was not submitted to the voting MPs beforehand, the traditional kingdoms within Uganda were completely abolished and Buganda was divided into several districts, which sparked some bloody protests. Obote made himself president and head of government in one person and established a socialist, centralized, unitary state.

The Lukiko planned the refusal of acceptance and a secession of Buganda, which prompted Obote to launch a military strike against Buganda. He gave Mutesa until May 20th to leave the country. After the ultimatum to Mutesa expired, Obote ordered troops under Colonel Amin to storm the royal palace. Mutesa narrowly escaped to Britain.

In terms of foreign policy, Obote moved closer to Kenya and Tanzania with the establishment of the East African Community .

Now hated for his authoritarian leadership style - he survived an assassination attempt on December 19, 1969 wounded - Obote issued the Common Man's Charter in November 1969 , which provided for a classless society and fairer land distribution to increase his popularity. At the same time, however, the one-party state was also legitimized. A new right to vote in time for the 1971 election - which had already been postponed once in 1967 - was supposed to reshape the right to vote so that the result would have been easier to control for Obote.

Idi Amin had increasingly come into opposition to Obote. Obote had set up the General Service Unit (GSU) as a security police and control authority over the military, which ran counter to Amin's relatively free rule over the army. In addition, Amin continued to support the Anya-Nya rebels in South Sudan, although Obote had agreed to withdraw Uganda from the civil war after Jafar Muhammad an- Numeiri came to power . After the assassination attempt on Obote, Brigadier Acap Okoya had publicly accused Amin of cowardice, as he is said to have hidden during the assassination until the situation calmed down. Okoya and his wife were murdered in January 1970; the suspicion fell on Idi Amin.

Under Idi Amin

Caricature by Idi Amin

Even before the scheduled elections could be conducted Obote was while he was at a conference of the Jan. 25, 1971 Commonwealth ( Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting ) in Singapore was staying, overthrown by the military chief Idi Amin, who wanted to forestall his own arrest. Amin immediately took a hard line against political opponents and the domestic opposition and began to adjust the country's government and administration to military standards. The time of Amin was ruled by violence and arbitrariness in every respect. While the military was ramping up, followers of Obote's military, particularly numerous under Lango and Acholi, were persecuted and many were murdered. The number of victims up to 1979 is estimated to be between 250,000 and 300,000. 60,000 Asians had to leave the country, which further exacerbated the economic stagnation. Many professionals withdrew from their public posts because any decision could result in arbitrary punishment. This led to an additional brain drain . In terms of foreign policy, the country now leaned, alongside the Soviet Union, primarily on the Arab countries and especially Libya .

At the end of 1972, a force deployed by Obote in Tanzania attempted an invasion of Uganda , which failed and was answered by Amin by bombing targets in Tanzania. In 1976, Amin declared himself president for life, the same year that Operation Entebbe ended an airplane hijacking of Palestinian terrorists at Entebbe airport that was apparently under cover by Amin. The US responded with a trade boycott to the murder of Archbishop Janani Luwum after he protested against the terror against the population by army troops . Overall, however, the international community was relatively indifferent to the countless human rights crimes in Uganda. There were repeated protests against individual actions such as the murder of Luwum ​​or Kiwanuka, who was now the chief judge, but the tens of thousands of ordinary Ugandans killed did not lead to much reaction.

After a few mutinies by members of the army, they fled to Tanzanian territory from approaching government-loyal troops. Amin then accused the President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere of participating in subversive schemes in Uganda and on November 1, 1978 occupied part of the territory from Tanzania to the Kagera and carried out numerous massacres of civilians (see Uganda-Tanzania War ). Then on November 28, 1978 Tanzanian troops marched into southern Uganda and supported the Ugandan underground fighters around the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), which was founded by Yusuf Lule in Moshi in Tanzania and tried to overthrow Amin. On April 11, 1979, Kampala was conquered and Amin overthrown, who fled to Libya and continued into exile in Saudi Arabia . At the same time, looting began by members of all parties to the conflict and marauding gangs of soldiers devastated large parts of the country's infrastructure.

In transition

On April 13th, the National Consultative Council (NCC) was set up as parliament and Lule was declared President of the UNLF, who was replaced by Godfrey Binaisa on June 20th, influenced by Nyereres . Tanzania's troops withdrew in late 1979. Binaisa also remained president only briefly, until he was ousted in a military coup on May 13, 1980 after attempting to put a stop to the nascent private armies of the individual leaders of the UNLF, such as Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and David Oyite Ojok . Up until the December 10 elections - the first since independence in 1962 - the country was headed by a three-person commission made up of Saulo Musoke , Polycarp Nyamuchoncho and Yoweri Hunter Wacha-Olwol . The main parties in the election were Obotes UPC and the DP under Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere . From the elections, in the run-up to which there were various benefits for UPC candidates and many DP candidates were prevented from participating, the DP initially emerged as the winner. But Paulo Muwanga , who was already involved in the overthrow of Binaisa, declared himself head of the electoral commission and carried out a recount. This time Obote was declared the winner, who then took office with Muwanga as Vice President and Minister of Defense.

Groups working against the government were formed in various parts of the country. The Uganda National Rescue Front under Moses Ali formed in the West Nile Province , but was driven out by Obote's troops. In February 1981 the National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded in the south under Lule with the military sub-organization National Resistance Army (NRA) under Museveni. In the fight against the NRA, government troops raged in the Luwero area, so that Obote's second reign was even more bloody than the Amins. The ongoing and unsuccessful struggle led to the dissatisfied military coup in July 1985. The new head of government was Tito Okello , who was previously the army chief. Okello sought negotiations with the NRM and a short-term peace agreement was signed in Nairobi in December . But in January the NRA marched into Kampala. On January 29, 1986 Museveni was sworn in as head of state and the NRA became part of the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF). The foundations of the constitution, the "Unterolberndorf Manifesto", had previously been adopted in Unterolberndorf in Lower Austria .

Under Yoweri Museveni

Yoweri Museveni in July 2003

Museveni's time was also marked by the struggles of various groups such as the Holy Spirit Movement in the north, from which the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was later to emerge, or the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which was responsible for numerous raids in the southwest.

First elections to a provisional parliament took place in February 1989.

In July 1993 the symbolic re-establishment of the ancient kingdoms of Toro, Ankole, Bunyoro and Buganda was approved, which made Museveni very popular.

In 1994 a constituent conference met, which in 1995 led to the adoption of a new constitution that continued to prohibit the activities of political parties. Subsequently, Museveni faced democratic elections for the first time in May 1996 and was elected with 75%.

From 1996 Uganda began to get involved in the Congo conflict and to support Laurent-Désiré Kabila in taking power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Behind this, among other things, were economic interests in the rich raw materials of the Congo such as gold , diamonds and coltan . In the following years, Uganda's gold exports multiplied, even though the country itself has almost no gold.

On the basis of allegations of corruption, a new government was formed in April 1999 under Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi . A referendum on the introduction of a multi-party system ended on July 2, 2000 with the rejection of the system change.

On March 12, 2001, Museveni was re-elected with 69%.

Uganda is one of the few countries where, after initially downplaying the facts, it has succeeded in drastically reducing the AIDS rate. Since the late 1980s until today, the rate has fallen from 16% to 4%. This was made possible by a comprehensive awareness-raising campaign and prevention using the ABC approach, which includes education about abstinence, loyalty and condom use. In September 2000, an Ebola epidemic broke out in the north, killing around 200 people.

The north-west of the country has long been suffering from civil war-like conditions. The LRA under Joseph Kony operates from bases in southern Sudan and raids villages and settlements at regular intervals. In January 2004, President Museveni charged the LRA with serious human rights violations in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In July 2005, 92.4% of Ugandans voted in a referendum against the current “no-party system”, so that a multi-party system was introduced. In October 2005, Kizza Besigye returned from exile to run against Museveni in the 2006 presidential election. In February 2006, Museveni was able to win the presidential election again. For Museveni to run again, the constitution had to be amended by parliament in August 2005.

The last elections took place in February 2016, but they are controversial because, among other things, many polling stations opened too late. Only after international pressure did some polling stations stay open longer, so that people still had the opportunity to cast their votes a day later. In particular, Mrs. Kizza Besigyes, Winnie Byanyima, has made serious allegations. Her husband and opponent Musevenis was subjected to reprisals and was arrested three times in the week before the election and four times again after the election. Museveni won the election with 60.75%. Besigye came up with around 35%.

See also

• History of africa

literature

• Jan Jelmert Jørgensen: Uganda. A modern history. Croom Helm, London 1981, ISBN 0-312-82786-5
• Abdu BK Kasozi: The social origins of violence in Uganda, 1964–1985. McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal 1994, ISBN 0-7735-1218-7
• Joseph Kamau, Andrew Cameron: Lust to Kill. The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin. Transworld Publishers, London 1979. ISBN 0-552-11058-2
• Samwiri Rubaraza Karugire: A Political History of Uganda. Heinemann, Nairobi 1980. ISBN 0-435-94524-6
• Michael Twaddle: Kakungulu & the creation of Uganda. Currey, London 1993, ISBN 0-8214-1058-X
• Yoweri K. Museveni: Selected articles on the Uganda resistance war. NRM Publications, Kampala 1985, 1986.
• WK Füsser: Rebellion in Buganda. A state crisis in East Africa. Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-87916-300-6
• China Keitetsi: They took my mother and gave me a rifle - my life as a child soldier . Ullstein, Berlin 2003, 2005. ISBN 3-548-36481-0

Web links

Commons : History of Uganda  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• History Uganda (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Margaret Sekaggya: Uganda . In: AfriMAP and the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa: Election Management Bodies in East Africa. A comparative study of the contribution of electoral commissions to the strengthening of Democracy. Open Society Foundations New York, 2006, ISBN 978-1-920677-97-8 , pp. 254-293, pp. 255.
2. ^ ^{A b c} June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 7.
3. ↑ see also en: Ugandan general election, 1961
4. ↑ see also en: Ugandan general election, 1962
5. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 391.
6. ↑ Henry Kyemba: "I heard the screams" . Der Spiegel 38/1977, pp. 180-193. See also Henry Kyemba: State of Blood: The Inside Story of Idi Amin . 1977, ISBN 0-448-14640-1 .
7. ^ Elections in Uganda - Museveni for the Fifth , Der Tagesspiegel, February 20, 2016