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| Uganda | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
Uganda's main food crops have been plantains, cassava, sweet potatoes, millet, sorghum, corn, beans, and groundnuts. Major cash crops have been coffee, cotton, tea, and tobacco, although in the 1980s many farmers sold food crops to meet short-term expenses. The production of cotton, tea, and tobacco virtually collapsed during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the late 1980s, the government was attempting to promote diversification in commercial agriculture that would lead to a mixture of nonorthodox exports. The Uganda Development Bank and several other institutions supplied credit to local farmers, although small farmers also received credit directly from the government through agricultural cooperatives. For most small farmers, the main source of short-term credit was the policy of allowing farmers to delay payments for seeds and other agricultural inputs provided by cooperatives.
Uganda's beekeeping industry also suffered throughout the years of civil unrest. In the 1980s, the CARE Apiary Development Project assisted in rehabilitating the industry, and by 1987 more than fifty cooperatives and privately owned enterprises had become dealers in apiary products. More than 4,000 hives were in the field. In 1987 an around 797 tons of honey and 614 kilograms of beeswax were produced.
| Uganda | Communications | Back to Top |
seriously insufficient; two cellular systems have been introduced, but a sharp increase in the number of main lines is essential; e-mail and Internet services are available
domestic: intercity traffic by wire, microwave radio relay, and radiotelephone communication stations, fixed and mobile cellular systems for short range traffic
international: satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 Inmarsat; analog links to Kenya and Tanzania.
| Uganda | Culture | Back to Top |
Uganda's rift valley foundation provides the nation with an alluvial plateau and plentiful lakes and rivers. Mountain peaks mark geological fault lines along its eastern and western boundaries and offer cooler temperatures and ample rainfall. This environment was peopled by successive waves of immigrants, some of whom displaced indigenous hunting societies during the first millennium A.D. Most of the newcomers eventually settled in the region that would become southern Uganda, and their evolving political and cultural variety contributed to conflicts that flared up over several centuries. These enmities still simmered in the twentieth century, but none of them seriously derailed the modernization process that was occurring in Uganda as it approached freedom in 1962.
One of the challenges facing the National Resistance Movement government was balancing orthodox forces against pressures for modernization brought to bear by Uganda's growing educated elite. Women, too, have often been a force for modernization, as they demanded educational and economic opportunities denied under orthodox and colonial rulers. The focus of these pressures in the 1980s was Uganda's still strong educational system. Through education, people fightd to bolster the institutions that underlay civil society in an environment that bore scars from government neglect and abuse.
| Uganda | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches: Army, Air Wing, Marine Unit
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 5,118,755 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 2,778,457 (2001 est.)
| Uganda | International Disputes | Back to Top |
the Ugandan military is deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo in support of rebel forces in that nation's civil war; a resurvey of the latitudinal boundary with Tanzania in 2000 revealed a 300-meter discrepancy that both sides are currently adjudicating
| Uganda | Economy | Back to Top |
The Ugandan economy has been based on small, African-owned farms since precolonial days. Uganda’s economy collapsed during the Idi Amin regime in the 1970s. In 1972 Amin expelled the nation’s Asian population, which controlled most of the commerce, and distributed their businesses and property to corrupt and incompetent managers. From 1972 to 1988 the economy declined about 33 %. The economy rebounded under President Yoweri Museveni, growing an average of 7 % annually between 1990 and 1998. But it took until the late 1990s for the nation to recover the production levels achieved before Amin seized power. In 1987 Museveni adopted reforms designed to reduce the size of the state and privatize many economic activities.
As has been the case with most African countries, economic development and modernization have been enormous tasks that have been impeded by the nation's political instability. In order to repair the damage done to the economy by the governments of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, foreign investment in agriculture and core industries, mainly from Western countries and former Asian residents, was promoted. The 1991 Investment Code offered tax and other incentives to local and foreign investors and created the Uganda Investment Authority, which made it easier for potential investors to procure licenses and investment approval.
Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. Agriculture is the most valuable area of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee is the major export crop and accounts for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government - with the support of foreign countries and international agencies - has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing prices of petroleum products, and improving civil service wages. The policy changes are particularly aimed at dampening inflation and boosting production and export earnings. In 1990-2000, the economy turned in a solid performance based on continued investment in the rehabilitation of infrastructure, improved incentives for production and exports, reduced inflation, gradually improved domestic security, and the return of exiled Indian-Ugandan entrepreneurs. Ongoing Ugandan involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, corruption within the government, and slippage in the government's determination to press reforms raise doubts about the continuation of strong growth. In 2000, Uganda qualified for enhanced HIPC debt relief worth $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original Highly Indebted Poor Countries HIPC debt relief add up to about $2 billion. Growth for 2001 should be somewhat lower than in 2000, because of a decline in the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export.
| Uganda | Education | Back to Top |
Mission schools were accomplished in Uganda in the 1890s, and in 1924 the government accomplished the first secondary school for Africans. By 1950, the government operated only three of the fifty-three secondary schools for Africans. Three others were privately funded, and forty-seven were operated by religious organizations. Education was eagerly sought by rural farmers as well as urban elites, and after freedom many villages, particularly in the south, built schools, hired teachers, and appealed for and received government assistance to operate their own village schools.
Most subjects were taught according to the British syllabus until 1974, and British examinations measured a student's progress through primary and secondary school. In 1975 the government implemented a local curriculum, and for a short time most school materials were published in Uganda. School enrollments continued to climb throughout most of the 1970s and 1980s, but as the economy deteriorated and violence increased, local publishing almost ceased, and examination results deteriorated.
In 1990 adult literacy nationwide was around at 50 %. Improving this ratio was valuable to the Museveni government. In order to reestablish the national priority on education, the Museveni government adopted a two-phase policy--to rehabilitate buildings and establish minimal conditions for instruction, and to improve efficiency and quality of education through teacher training and curriculum upgrading. valuable long-term goals included establishing universal primary education, extending the seven-year primary cycle to eight or nine years, and shifting the emphasis in postsecondary education from purely academic to more technical and vocational training.
| Uganda | Government | Back to Top |
Government: Legal basis of government 1967 Constitution modified by decrees of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) after 1986. The National Resistance Council (NRC) wields supreme authority and power as interim government expected to last until January 1995. Resistance Councils (RCs) exist on district, county, subcounty, parish, and village levels, each elected by council members of next lower level and by universal vote at village level.
Administrative Divisions: Uganda separated into 34 districts, 150 counties, and 129 municipal governing units.
Courts: Legal and court systems heavily determined by British common law and practice, supplemented by Islamic law and customary institutions and laws. Supreme Court of Uganda highest court, below which are series of appeals courts; civil disputes in hands of local resistance committees.
Politics: Two main parties, Uganda People's Congress (UPC) and Democratic Party (DP). Organized political activity inactive in 1986. In February 1989, elections held for all resistance councils, including some seats on NRC.
Foreign Relations: Nonaligned foreign policy; enthusiastic supporter of African and regional economic and political cooperation. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni elected chair of Organization of African Unity (OAU) in July 1990.
| Uganda | History | Back to Top |
Uganda was one of the lesser-known African countries until the 1970s when Idi Amin Dada rose to the presidency. His bizarre public pronouncements--ranging from gratuitous advice for valuableard Nixon to his proclaimed intent to raise a monument to Adolf Hitler--fascinated the popular news media. Beneath the facade of buffoonery, the darker reality of massacres and disappearances was considered equally newsworthy. Uganda became known as an African horror story, fully identified with its field marshal president. Even a decade after Amin's flight from Uganda in 1979, popular imagination still insisted on linking the nation and its exiled former ruler.
In part the result of its fairly smooth transition to freedom, the near absence of nationalism among Uganda's various ethnic groups led to a series of political compromises. The first was a government made up of coalitions of local and regional interest groups loosely organized into political parties. The national government was presided over by a prime minister whose principal role appeared to be that of a broker, trading patronage and development projects--such as roads, schools, and dispensaries--to local or regional interest groups in return for political support. It was not the strong, directive, ideologically clothed central government desired by most African political leaders, but it worked. And it might reasonably have been expected to continue to work, because there were exchanges and payoffs at all levels and to all regions.
| Uganda | Introduction | Back to Top |
Uganda, landlocked republic, eastern Africa, bordered on the north by the Republic of Sudan, on the east by Kenya, on the south by Tanzania and Rwanda, and on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A former British protectorate, Uganda became a fully independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations on October 6, 1962. Uganda has an area of 241,138 sq km (93,104 sq mi). The capital of Uganda is Kampala.
Official Name- Republic of Uganda| Uganda | Land | Back to Top |
N/A
| Uganda | Languages | Back to Top |
About two-thirds speak Bantu languages and live in the south, including the largest and wealthiest ethnic group, the Ganda, constituting 18.0 % of the population, and the Nyankole (9.9 %), Kiga (8.3 %), and Soga (8.2 %). About one-sixth of Uganda’s people are Western Nilotic speakers living in the north, such as the Langi (5.9 %) and Acholi (4.4 %). Another one-sixth speak an Eastern Nilotic language and live in the northeast, including the Iteso (6.0 %) and Karimojong (2.1 %). Finally, in the extreme northwest are speakers of Sudanic languages, including the Lugbara (3.5 %) and the Madi (1.1 %). English is the official language of Uganda.
| Uganda | Legal | Back to Top |
Legal system: in 1995, the government restored the legal system to one based on English common law and customary law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations vote: 18 years of age; universal administrator branch: chief of state: President Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI (since seizing power 29 January 1986); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government head of government: President Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI (since seizing power 29 January 1986); Prime Minister Apollo NSIBAMBI (since 5 April 1999); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government; the prime minister assists the president in the supervision of the cabinet cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president from among elected legislators elections: president reelected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 12 March 2001 (next to be held NA 2006); note - first popular election for president since freedom in 1962 was held in 1996; prime minister appointed by the president election results: Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI elected president; % of vote - Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI 69.3%, Kizza BESIGYE 27.8% Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (276 members - 214 directly elected by popular vote, 62 nominated by legally accomplished special interest groups and approved by the president - women 39, army 10, disabled 5, youth 5, labor 3; members serve five-year terms) elections: last held 27 June 1996 (next to be held May or June 2001); election results: % of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - NA; note - election campaigning by party was not permitted Judicial branch: Court of Appeal (judges are appointed by the president and approved by the legislature); High Court (judges are appointed by the president)
| Uganda | Life | Back to Top |
Women's roles were clearly subordinate to those of men, contempt the substantial economic and social responsibilities of women in Uganda's many orthodox societies. Women were taught to accede to the wishes of their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sometimes other men as well, and to demonstrate their subordination to men in most areas of public life. Even in the 1980s, women in rural areas of Buganda were expected to kneel when speaking to a man. At the same time, women shouldered the primary responsibilities for childcare and subsistence cultivation, and in the twentieth century, women had made substantial contributions to cash-crop agriculture.
The Uganda Association of Women Lawyers, which was founded in 1976, accomplished a legal-aid clinic in early 1988 to defend women who faced the loss of property or children because of divorce, separation, or widowhood. The association also sought to expand educational opportunities for women, increase childsupport payments in case of divorce, establish common legal grounds for divorce for both men and women, establish common criminal codes for men and women, assist women and children who were victims of AIDS, and implement nationwide education programs to inform women of their legal rights.
| Uganda | organization | Back to Top |
ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, EADB, ECA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW (signatory), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
| Uganda | People | Back to Top |
In 1990 the Ugandan government around the nation's population to be 16.9 million people; international estimates ranged as high as 17.5 million. Most estimates were based on extrapolations from the 1969 census, which enumerated around 9.5 million people. The results of the 1980 census, which counted 12.6 million people, were cast in doubt by the loss of census data in consequent outbreaks of violence. Life expectancy in 1989 averaged fifty-three years, roughly two years higher for women than men. The population was increasing by over 3.2 % per year, a substantial increase over the rate of 2.5 % in the 1960s and remarkablely more than the 2.8 % growth rate around for most of East Africa.At this rate, Uganda's population was expected to double between 1989 and the year 2012. The crude birth rate, around to be 49.9 per 1,000 population, was equivalent to other regional estimates. Fertility ratios, defined as the number of live births per year per 1,000 women between the ages of sixteen and fortyfive years, ranged from 115 in the south to more than 200 in the northeast. In general, fertility declined in more developed areas, and birth rates were lower among educated women. The crude death rate was 18 per 1,000 population, equivalent to the average for East Africa as a whole. Infant mortality in the first year of life averaged 120 per 1,000 population, but some infant deaths were not reported to government officials. Deaths from AIDS were increasing in the late 1980s. Death rates were generally lower in highaltitude areas, in part because of the lower incidence of malaria.
Although Uganda is colonised by a large mixture of ethnic groups, a division is usually made between the “Nilotic North” and the “Bantu South.” Bantu speakers are the largest portion of Uganda's population. Of these, the Ganda (BaGanda; the prefix Ba- is often affixed to suggest the people) remain the largest single ethnic group, constituting almost one-fifth of the total national population. Other Bantu speakers are the Soga, Gwere, Gisu, Nyole, Samia, Toro, Nyoro, Kiga, Rwanda (Banyarwanda), Nyankole, Amba, and Konjo. South Asians (Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis), speaking mostly Gujarati and Hindi, came to Uganda largely in the 19th and 20th centuries and by 1969 numbered more than 50,000. Although Ugandan citizenship was made available to them when Uganda became independent, most Asians chose not to accept this offer. The population declined drastically when Idi Amin, head of government from 1971 to 1979, expelled all noncitizen Asians in 1972.
| Uganda | Politics | Back to Top |
only one political organization, the National Resistance Movement or NRM [President MUSEVENI, chairman] is allowed to operate unfettered; note - the president maintains that the NRM is not a political party, but a movement which claims the loyalty of all Ugandans note: the new constitution requires the suspension of political parties while the Movement system is in governanace; of the political parties that exist but are prohibited from sponsoring candidates, the most valuable are the Ugandan People's Congress or UPC [Milton OBOTE]; Democratic Party or DP [Paul SSEMOGERERE]; Conservative Party or CP [Joshua S. MAYANJA-NKANGI]; Justice Forum [Muhammad Kibirige MAYANJA]; and National Democrats Forum [Chapaa KARUHANGA]
| Uganda | Provinces | Back to Top |
45 districts; Adjumani, Apac, Arua, Bugiri, Bundibugyo, Bushenyi, Busia, Gulu, Hoima, Iganga, Jinja, Kabale, Kabarole, Kalangala, Kampala, Kamuli, Kapchorwa, Kasese, Katakwi, Kibale, Kiboga, Kisoro, Kitgum, Kotido, Kumi, Lira, Luwero, Masaka, Masindi, Mbale, Mbarara, Moroto, Moyo, Mpigi, Mubende, Mukono, Nakasongola, Nebbi, Ntungamo, Pallisa, Rakai, Rukungiri, Sembabule, Soroti, Tororo
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| Uganda | Time | Back to Top |
| Uganda | Currency and General Information | Back to Top |
| Uganda Shillings | United States Dollars |
| 1.00 UGX | 0.000568183 USD |
| 1,760.00 UGX | 1 USD |
| Countries Currency Unit | USD/Unit | Units/USD | |
| DZD | Algeria Dinars | 0.0129554 | 77.1877 |
| USD | United States Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| ARS | Argentina Pesos | 0.341293 | 2.93004 |
| AUD | Australia Dollars | 0.533413 | 1.87472 |
| ATS | Austria Schillings ** | 0.0632609 | 15.8076 |
| BSD | Bahamas Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| BBD | Barbados Dollars | 0.502513 | 1.99000 |
| BEF | Belgium Francs ** | 0.0215788 | 46.3417 |
| BMD | Bermuda Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| BRL | Brazil Reals | 0.430318 | 2.32386 |
| GBP | United Kingdom Pounds | 1.42399 | 0.702251 |
| BGL | Bulgaria Leva | 0.447293 | 2.23567 |
| CAD | Canada Dollars | 0.627606 | 1.59336 |
| CLP | Chile Pesos | 0.00152392 | 656.202 |
| CNY | China Yuan Renminbi | 0.120813 | 8.27726 |
| CYP | Cyprus Pounds | 1.49883 | 0.667186 |
| CZK | Czech Republic Koruny | 0.0281883 | 35.4758 |
| DKK | Denmark Kroner | 0.117155 | 8.53568 |
| XCD | East Caribbean Dollars | 0.370370 | 2.70000 |
| EGP | Egypt Pounds | 0.217271 | 4.60255 |
| EUR | Euro | 0.870489 | 1.14878 |
| FJD | Fiji Dollars | 0.447227 | 2.23600 |
| FIM | Finland Markkaa ** | 0.146406 | 6.83034 |
| FRF | France Francs ** | 0.132705 | 7.53550 |
| DEM | Germany Deutsche Marks ** | 0.445074 | 2.24682 |
| XAU | Gold Ounces | 301.977 | 0.00331151 |
| GRD | Greece Drachmae ** | 0.00255463 | 391.447 |
| HKD | Hong Kong Dollars | 0.128215 | 7.79939 |
| HUF | Hungary Forint | 0.00358416 | 279.006 |
| ISK | Iceland Kronur | 0.00999868 | 100.013 |
| INR | India Rupees | 0.0205205 | 48.7319 |
| IDR | Indonesia Rupiahs | 0.000102055 | 9,798.61 |
| IEP | Ireland Pounds ** | 1.10529 | 0.904738 |
| ILS | Israel New Shekels | 0.212386 | 4.70841 |
| ITL | Italy Lire ** | 0.000449570 | 2,224.35 |
| JMD | Jamaica Dollars | 0.0210041 | 47.6099 |
| JPY | Japan Yen | 0.00754183 | 132.594 |
| JOD | Jordan Dinars | 1.41057 | 0.708931 |
| LBP | Lebanon Pounds | 0.000660937 | 1,513.00 |
| LUF | Luxembourg Francs ** | 0.0215788 | 46.3417 |
| MYR | Malaysia Ringgits | 0.263330 | 3.79751 |
| MXN | Mexico Pesos | 0.111007 | 9.00848 |
| NZD | New Zealand Dollars | 0.440474 | 2.27028 |
| NOK | Norway Kroner | 0.113022 | 8.84780 |
| NLG | Netherlands Guilders ** | 0.395011 | 2.53158 |
| PKR | Pakistan Rupees | 0.0166945 | 59.9000 |
| PHP | Philippines Pesos | 0.0196386 | 50.9202 |
| XPT | Platinum Ounces | 510.962 | 0.00195709 |
| PLN | Poland Zlotych | 0.243488 | 4.10699 |
| PTE | Portugal Escudos ** | 0.00434198 | 230.310 |
| ROL | Romania Lei | 0.0000303433 | 32,956.21 |
| RUR | Russia Rubles | 0.0321342 | 31.1195 |
| SAR | Saudi Arabia Riyals | 0.266668 | 3.74998 |
| XAG | Silver Ounces | 4.65692 | 0.214734 |
| SGD | Singapore Dollars | 0.542540 | 1.84318 |
| SKK | Slovakia Koruny | 0.0208441 | 47.9751 |
| ZAR | South Africa Rand | 0.0883340 | 11.3207 |
| KRW | South Korea Won | 0.000759354 | 1,316.91 |
| ESP | Spain Pesetas ** | 0.00523174 | 191.141 |
| XDR | IMF Special Drawing Rights | 1.24862 | 0.800882 |
| SDD | Sudan Dinars | 0.00384615 | 260.000 |
| SEK | Sweden Kronor | 0.0964189 | 10.3714 |
| CHF | Switzerland Francs | 0.593789 | 1.68410 |
| TWD | Taiwan New Dollars | 0.0286531 | 34.9002 |
| THB | Thailand Baht | 0.0230087 | 43.4619 |
| TTD | Trinidad and Tobago Dollars | 0.163399 | 6.12000 |
| TRL | Turkey Liras | 0.000000763622 | 1,309,549.07 |
| VEB | Venezuela Bolivares | 0.00108696 | 920.000 |
| ZMK | Zambia Kwacha | 0.000239866 | 4,169.00 |
| Uganda : Geographic coordinates | 1 00 N, 32 00 E |
| Uganda : Population growth rate | 2.93% |
| Uganda : Birth rate | 47.52 births/1,000 population |
| Uganda : Death rate | 17.97 deaths/1,000 population |
| Uganda : People living with HIV/AIDS | 820,000 |
| Uganda : Independence | 9 October 1962 |
| Uganda : National holiday | Independence Day, 9 October |
| Uganda : Constitution | 8 October 1995 |
| Uganda : GDP | purchasing power parity - $26.2 billion |
| Uganda : GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $1,100 |
| Uganda : Electricity - consumption | 1.06 billion kWh |
| Uganda : Exports | $500.1 million coffee, fish and fish products, tea; electrical products, iron and steel |
| Uganda : Imports | $1.1 billion vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies; cereals |
| Uganda : Telephones | 80,868 |
| Uganda : Mobile cellular | 9,000 |
| Uganda : Radio broadcast stations | AM 19, FM 4, shortwave 5 |
| Uganda : Radios | 2.6 million |
| Uganda : Television broadcast stations | 8 |
| Uganda : Televisions | 315,000 |
| Uganda : Internet country code | .ug |
| Uganda : Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 2 |
| Uganda : Internet users | 25,000 |
| Uganda : Railways | 1,241 km |
| Uganda : Highways | 27,000 km |
| Uganda : Waterways | N/A |
| Uganda : Pipelines | N/A |
| Uganda : Ports and harbors | Entebbe, Jinja, Port Bell |
| Uganda : Merchant marine | 3 ships |
| Uganda : Airports | 28 |
| Uganda : Heliports | 1 |
| Uganda : Military branches | Army, Air Wing, Marine Unit |
| Uganda : Military expenditures | $95 million |