-
Make a real difference...
-
to communities across Africa.
-
Share skills and knowledge...
-
and sponsor children...
-
to develop a better future
-
...and change lives forever!
Before independence from the UK
in 1962, Uganda was not a country, rather a loose grouping of ethnic tribes with
an equally large number of systems of governance. The largest such grouping is
in Buganda, a sub kingdom within Uganda which has its own monarch, the Kabaka.
Buganda
(shown below in brown below) occupies the central region of Uganda including its capital, Kampala.
Following independence Milton Obote became executive Prime Minister with the
Kabaka of Buganda, Mutesa, becoming ceremonial president. Within a few years Obote became
implicated together with the deputy commander of the
armed forces, one Idi Amin, in a plot to smuggle gold, coffee and ivory out of the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Refusing to bow to any investigation, Obote acted
swiftly to secure his power. He suspended the constitution, declared himself
president and ordered a state of emergency with many former cabinet members
being arrested and detained.
Obote then had his newly appointed Chief of Staff, Idi Amin, storm the president's palace sending Kabaka Mutesa into exile and
he passed a new constitution ending Buganda's autonomy
and the creation of an all powerful president, himself. Obete's rule became increasingly
hated as he became mired in corruption. In 1971, when he was on an overseas
visit to a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore, the army moved, installing Idi
Amin as President, ushering in a brutal regime that by contrast made the
dictatorship of Obote seem like a golden age of peace and tranquillity.
Amin
ruled for eight years, during which time up to 500,000 Ugandans were massacred
earning him the nickname the "Butcher of Uganda." Amin exacted his revenge by
being earlier sidelined by Obote as the then President had become increasingly
concerned at Amin's gathering of power, by sending out killer squads to track
down and kill the former president's supporters. For many years the full horror of Amin's horrific rule in Uganda went mainly unnoticed by the west and it wasn't
until around 1978 that his bizarre and paranoid behaviours began to appear in
the international press. Amin sealed his fate in the late seventies, when
against a backdrop of an economy in freefall with inflation heading towards
1000%, he attempted to annex Kagera, a northern province of Tanzania.
Tanzania
responded with force and, together with Ugandan rebels, toppled the Amin regime
forcing him to flee the country firstly to Libya then Saudi Arabia where he died
in 2003. There followed a history in Uganda of coups and
counter coups during which former president Obete was restored to power and then
lost it again. Following a further coup in 1986 when the National Resistance
Army took the capital Kampala, Yoweri Museveni was installed as president, a
post he retains to this day. Since that time there have been numerous difficulties however
his rule has brought some political and economic stability
despite bordering on known conflict zones such as the Democratic
Republic of Congo and the Sudan. The video below explores more about the history of Uganda.
History of Uganda: Volunteer in Uganda
|
History of Uganda: Life in Uganda
|
History of Uganda: Sponsor a Child in Uganda
|
History of Uganda: Uganda Country Profile
|
|
Details of current volunteer work
opportunities in each of the
countries of Africa.
Find how to sponsor a child in Africa
with our list of organisations,
charities, programs and projects.
Discover all about Africa, its tourist
attractions, history, people, culture
and daily life there.
