About Uganda

Country info

The Republic of Uganda (capital: Kampala) is an East African country located on the equator with a temperate tropical climate. The country borders South Sudan to the north. To the east, it shares a border with Kenya. To the south are Tanzania and Rwanda and to the west is the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world. Due to many years of conflict, the north is less developed than the south of Uganda.

Uganda is a major host country for refugees. Refugee flows into the country come mainly from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Around 1.8 million people have sought refuge in Uganda. (Status: end of October 2024)

Population growth is 2.8 % per year, making Uganda a very young country. By far the largest group of the 49.92 million inhabitants are children up to the age of 15 (44.4 %), resulting in an average age of 16.3 years. 2.55% of gross domestic product (as of 2023) is spent on education.

Historical facts 

From the 13th/14th century, several kingdoms developed in what is now Uganda. Buganda on the north-western shore of Lake Victoria confirmed its supremacy from the 17th century and became the most important of the Ugandan kingdoms. 

Uganda was declared a British protectorate in 1894. The country was a British colony until 1962. Winston Churchill described Uganda as the ‘Pearl of Africa’. 

In 1963, the first free elections were held and Uganda became independent as the ‘Democratic Republic of Uganda’. In 1967, the kingdoms were cancelled and the country was divided into provinces. 

From 1966 to 1986, Milton Obote and Idi Amin ruled with an extremely authoritarian style of government.  Their power was supported by the military. During this time, the country never came to rest. It was shaken by violence, human rights violations, civil war-like unrest and economic decline. 

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has been head of state without interruption since 1986 and was last confirmed in office in 2021.

20 years of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

Between 1987 and 2006, Uganda experienced a brutal civil war of unbelievable proportions. During these years, under the leadership of Joseph Kony, the rebel Lord's Resistance Army was formed, which saw itself as a resistance movement. Their aim was to overthrow Museveni in order to establish a theocracy in northern Uganda on the basis of the biblical ‘Ten Commandments’.  Tens of thousands of children and young people were abducted, turned into child soldiers, people were tortured, villages were burnt, girls and women were raped and enslaved. Kony's LRA committed the most serious crimes against humanity. 

In 1996, the Ugandan government reacted to these crimes and called on 1.8 million people to seek refuge in refugee camps, so-called Camps for Internally Displaced Persons. There, however, they were dependent on humanitarian aid. The refugees starved in these camps. They were exposed to terrible hygienic and medical conditions. They also led a degrading life there. 

In 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and other LRA leaders at the request of the Ugandan government. Kony is still at large today.

In her article ‘Northern Uganda’, author Lioba Lenhart outlines 20 years of LRA terror in Uganda and its effects, problems and deficits that can still be felt today.

She points out, among other things, that the blatant lack of employment,  which has been exacerbated by the war in northern Uganda, is a major problem. Even the few university graduates from wealthy families have difficulties finding work. This lack of prospects particularly affects young people and young adults in Uganda, as more than 50% of the population is under the age of 15. 

There is hardly a family in northern Uganda that has not suffered under the terror of the LRA. It was only in October 2024 that former LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo was found guilty of murder, war crimes and crimes against humanity after a fifteen-year trial in Gulu.  He was the first and only LRA commander to be brought before a court in the country. Read thr article "Besser spät als nie": Urteil Jahrzehnte nach LRA-Terror in Uganda“  (‘Better late than never’: Verdict decades after LRA terror in Uganda’ )by Helena Kreiensiek.