Uganda History

Migrations of Bantu, Nilotic and Hamitic populations began towards the century. IV and followed for about a millennium. Large clay walls testify to the presence of urbanized civilizations in the territory of present-day Uganda since the 10th century AD. To the N and E of the Nile, modest communities and later highly centralized kingdoms (Buganda, Ankole, Bunyoro-Kitara and Toro) were formed in the southern and western regions. The kingdoms of Bunyoro-Kitara and Buganda were the result of Luo invasions (late 15th-early 16th century). The European penetration began between 1860 and 1870 with the explorations of Speke, Grant and Baker. After some approaches by the governor of Sudan, General Gordon, in 1874 to establish relations with the king of Buganda, Mutesa I, Stanley established stable relations, followed by the first Protestant and Catholic missionaries, who were persecuted by King Mwanga I, however, forced in 1890 to have to recognize English rights. Shortly thereafter, an Anglo-German agreement delimited the areas of influence of the two European powers in East Africa. In 1894 the London government established the protectorate on Buganda, which was then extended to the other kingdoms (Toro, Ankole, Bunyoro) and to the rest of the country (1900-03) which, as a whole, took the name of Uganda. Formal functions were reserved for the king. The construction in 1901 of the Mombasa-Lake Victoria railway opened the country to contacts with the outside world. The western province became part of Kenya in 1902. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century the country was governed by Great Britain through forms of local power: in 1921 the first Executive and Legislative Council was established, gradually opened to an increasing number of native members. According to a2zcamerablog, Uganda is a country located in Africa. Uganda became independent within the Commonwealth on October 9, 1962. The first Ugandan head of government was Apollo Milton Obote of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC). In 1963 the Republic was proclaimed, with the former King Mutesa II as president. Due to constant personal friction, in 1966 Obote deposed the kabaka (the former king) and had himself proclaimed president. In 1969 he cracked down again, suppressing all opposition parties. In 1971, now unpopular, the president was deposed by General Amin Dada. He quickly established a dictatorial, ferocious and bloody regime. In 1972 Amin Dada expelled the thriving Asian community from Uganda and confiscated its properties, this, especially from an economic point of view, was a serious mistake.

In 1978 it annexed the northern part of Tanzania to the country, coalescing against him all the states of East Africa, until in April of the following year the Tanzanian troops entered Kampala and forced him to flee and exile. First Yusuf Lule became president, then, after a few months, Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa who in turn, accused of serious irregularities, was deposed by the army (1980). In December of the same year, the general elections took place and Obote, returning from his long exile, was re-elected president: he found himself governing a country exhausted and characterized by a devastating civil war characterized by the strong resistance of the National Resistance Movement (MRN). On July 27, 1985, a military coup ousted Obote, dissolved Parliament and suspended the Constitution. The presidency of the Republic was assumed for a short time by the commander of the army, General Tito Okello. The capital fell into the hands of the MRN, its boss, Yoweri Museveni, became president of Uganda (January 1986, re-elected in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011). The institutional structure of the state was subjected to changes; Museveni undertook to establish a “democracy without parties”, which envisaged as its central axis his MRN, which did not constitute a real party, but admitted forms of decentralization at the local level. Alternating firmness and intransigence in the repression of tribal conflicts that still affected the northern and eastern regions in 1988, Museveni during the following year achieved some success in starting national reconciliation, which was insufficient, however, to bring about the pacification of the country.

In October 1989, near the 1990 government elections, the National Resistance Council extended the government’s mandate for five years. about to expire. Museveni, meanwhile, willing to admit forms of local autonomy and, therefore, to recognize the existence of four traditional tribal kingdoms, in July 1993, allowed the coronation of Ronald Mutebi, son of Mutesa II, who became 36ยบ kabaka of Buganda, a role destined, however, to remain essentially symbolic. In 1994 a Constituent Assembly was elected, which the following year promulgated a new Constitution, and which, instead of taking a decision, postponed the restoration of multi-partyism in the country. In the meantime, despite the increased commitment of the government army, outbreaks of guerrillas remained, supported by the Sudanese regime. The situation worsened when at the end of 1998 Ugandan troops entered the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo and supported the rebels. Meanwhile (2001) Museveni, despite the opposition’s complaints of acts of intimidation by the government party, was reconfirmed at the helm of Uganda. In March 2002, Uganda and Sudan they signed an agreement to fight the group of rebel fanatics born in 1987 (Lord Resistance Army, LRA) that had perched on the border between the two countries; despite this, that border area continued to be affected by violent fighting. On the Democratic Republic of Congo front, in April 2003 the Ugandan government forced the army to withdraw and initiated a policy of reconciliation with that country. In April 2004, the government signed an agreement with Egypt on the use of the waters of the Nile. 2005 saw the birth, with a referendum, of the multi-party system and in 2006 the first multi-party elections since 1986 were held which, in a climate of alleged fraud, saw Museveni reconfirmed at the helm of the country. In 2008, after the refusal of Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, to sign the peace agreement with the Ugandan government, the armies of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan launched an offensive to target the rebel bases. In July 2010 a group of Somali Islamists (the Shebabs) hit the capital with two attacks, as a retaliation for sending troops under the leadership of the African Union in Somalia (since 2007). The bombs caused the death of dozens of civilians, gathered in public places during the final of the Soccer World Cup.

Uganda History