Entry Three - Some generic background on Uganda

Uganda is located in East Africa on the northern and western shores of Lake Victoria. It borders Kenya to the east, Sudan to the north, DR Congo to the west, and Rwanda and Tanzania to the south. Kampala, the capital situated in the central-southern part the country, is a few miles north of the equator. It does not get any hotter than New York, Toronto, Maine, etc. in the summer, and never as humid as it sometimes gets in those places. The climate and geography vary across the country, though it is generally tropical with very lush mountainous landscapes - though there is some semi-desert in the northeast. Throughout the southern part of the country, the primary crop is bananas - not just yellow bananas (referred to here as 'ripes'). The most common type is similar to plantain, called 'matooke' (ma-TOE-kay). Other commonly grown foods are maize, beans and rice, while cash crops include coffee, tea and sugar, which are mostly grown on large plantations. There are numerous impressive national parks (most famous of which is Murchison Falls), though most of East Africa's famous game parks are in Tanzania and Kenya. Uganda apparently has half of the world's mountain gorillas, the rest of which are in a tiny area over the border in Rwanda and DR Congo. (Some people pay 250 USD for the chance of seeing a few of them for an hour or less). Uganda is also home to the "source of the Nile" where the Nile meets Lake Victoria, though Rwanda and Burundi also each claim the title of where the Nile ends.

The official language is English, though there are 52 other languages spoken throughout the country. Buganda is the region around the capital. The people from this region are Baganda (Muganda is the singular) and Luganda is their language. When Europeans (mostly British and French) arrived in this area in the late nineteenth century, they compared the government of Buganda, along with that of several other regions to the west, with European monarchies. At this time, Buganda was an economic, cultural and religious crossroads in the region. The Kabaka (who Europeans called the 'king') of Buganda hosted theological debates among Muslim, Catholic and Protestant visitors alongside his own religious aides. Although Buganda had been part of trading networks that reached as far as China since the twelfth century, the late nineteenth century opened new routes to the north toward Sudan and Egypt as well as directly with Europeans.

Although the Kabaka did famously write to Queen Victoria requesting Protestant missionaries in Buganda, he did not get exactly what he had in mind. Christianity did flourish (today there are more practicing Anglicans in Ugandan than in all of Great Britain). However, with the scramble for Africa in full force, the British asserted their control of what became Uganda using Buganda as an intermediary. In an unusual situation in Africa, Uganda was declared a British protectorate (instead of a colony) with the governments of Buganda and other areas made to fit within the superstructure of colonial authority.

Existing forms of government and law were reworked so as to fit within the interests of the colonial government, often involving the wholesale invention of "traditions" and what were termed "customary laws" (an oxymoron if there ever was one, since 'a custom' would not be a custom if it had to be enforced by law). These inventions usually occurred when a British administrator showed up, saw that people spoke or dressed differently in a particular area, and decided that they must be a distinct "tribe". He would then seek out who he thought was in charge and who would be most likely to cooperate with the colonial government, and ask them what their customs were. (Often this was done by early anthropologists.) This allowed whoever was being questioned to codify his (women were rarely, if ever, asked for input) interests into a static legal code. Such alliances between colonial administrators and male "chiefs" (whose leadership positions were often created by the British as an easier means of controlling an area) formed the basic structure of colonial rule. Of note in Uganda was that the army was recruited almost entirely from the north of the country while the civil service was staffed almost exclusively by southerners.

As independence movements throughout the British and French empires gained force after World War II, Ugandan nationalists demanded independence. At independence in 1962, a tenuous alliance was created between the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), led by a northerner Milton Obote, and the Kabaka of Buganda. In 1966, Obote expelled the Kabaka (who had until then been the prime minister) and abolished all of the 'monarchies' in the country. Obote sought to consolidate his rule ostensibly as a means of creating a truly national government without regionalism and sectarianism. This unpopular power-grab paved the way for Idi Amin, Obote's top general, to stage a coup in 1971 while Obote was out of the country. A northerner (from a different region than Obote) with military training in the colonial army and from Israel, Amin was immensely popular at the time of the coup, particularly in Buganda. However, it soon became clear that he had little interest in redressing the wrongs of Obote's regime - only exacting revenge on his political opponents and consolidating his wealth and power. In 1972 he expelled all 70,000 Asians (mainly Indians who made up the majority of the country's business class) from Uganda, regardless of their citizenship. Their property was distributed to his allies, as were British plantations that were soon nationalised. As he skillfully manipulated various sectors of society against each other and used his own private loyal well-paid military force to maintain power, he turned against the British and Israelis who had been among his strongest supporters until then. He converted to Islam and won the support of Libya, Saudi Arabia and other wealthy oil states. While these donors bailed out his disastrous economic policies, the military was given almost free reign to loot the country. Over 300,000 people were killed during his rule, which ended in 1979 as virtually all social, economic and political sectors were systematically destroyed.

Despite his image as an ignorant buffoon in the Western press, Amin skillfully cultivated his image domestically and abroad. I plan (maybe) to examine this in my research here, but it is clear that Amin knew what Western discourse on African leadership was at the time. Much like George Bush cultivated his image as a simple regular Joe (particularly during the 2000 election), Amin used a similar self-styling, especially with the Western press, for whom he often put on quite an over-the-top show (see Barbet Schroeder's documentary "Idi Amin Dada", in which he lashes out at his cabinet and leads a mock invasion of the Golan Heights solely for the film's Western audience). While it is easy to dismiss him as a clownish despot, Amin was skilled enough to stay in power for eight years and active in growing his image here and abroad.

A group of exiles along with the Tanzanian military invaded in 1978 following Amin's provocation and soon controlled most of the country. After two short-lived interim governments, Milton Obote and the UPC won elections in 1980 due to widespread vote-rigging and intimidation. Although it was not his party who had been cheated primarily, Yoweri Museveni formed the National Resistance Army and Movement and organized a rebel army in the southwest of the country. As Obote's second government proved just as destructive as Amin's in many respects, the NRA gained momentum and took Kampala by 1986. Museveni and the NRM quickly showed their difference from previous governments by rebuilding infrastructure, setting up accountable local government structures, and diffusing regional and religious conflict. A new constitution was written in 1993 (finalized in 1995) with the input of virtually all sectors of society. Among other things, Uganda's 'kingdoms' including that of Buganda were restored, though as largely ceremonial posts. Largely fair local and regional elections were held. Museveni won presidential elections in 1994 and 2000 by substantial margins. Prior to elections in early 2006, his allies in Parliament amended the constitution to allow him to run for a third term, which he won by a smaller margin. Economic progress has been steady since the NRM's rise, though poverty and its attendant challenges are still the reality for most of the country. Among other successes, Uganda has successfully reversed the spread of HIV and AIDS, though recently there appears to be some backtracking. The first lady, a born-again Christian who recently won a seat in Parliament, has become increasingly vocal about an abstinence-only approach, which the president himself has indicated he supports.

Until recently, Uganda was a "no-party state" in which political parties could exist, but not field or support candidates. Instead, "the Movement", supposedly a national broad-based organization representing the entire country, was the only body allowed to support candidates. The opposition often referred to this as a thinly veiled one-party state. Before the most recent election, multi-party democracy was initiated with the greatest opposition support going to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which still trailed support for the NRM, which is strongest in rural areas. During the recent election, FDC's candidate, retired general Kizza Besigye, returned from exile in South Africa to be arrested on treason and rape charges. After he was granted bail, a group of secret police (quickly dubbed the 'Black Mambas' due to their black t-shirts) showed up outside the courtroom intending to rearrest him to charge him in military court. Besigye quickly decided to refuse bail. This raised tensions and led to riots in Kampala. After some court battles, the military relented and allowed his civilian court case to proceed. He was allowed out of jail to campaign by day, but ended up losing the election, which was conducted without serious irregularities. However, his margin of defeat was cut almost in half since the previous election, and it will certainly be interesting to see what happens to 2012.

Despite immense progress in the south of the country, there has been a devastating war in the north. Remnants of Obote's and even some of Amin's troops have continued to operate under various groups in the north. In the late 1980s a woman named Alice Lakewa claimed to be a prophet and gained significant support in the north of the country in her opposition to the government. Out of the remnants of her movement emerged the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony whose stated aim is to rule Uganda according to the Ten Commandments. In reality his rebels have killed tens of thousands of civilians, including many children, who they have become famous for abducting into their forces. He has little if any support from anyone in the country. Those people who do not live in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps often walk miles every day to sleep in the safety of towns while trying to maintain farms in the countryside. Despite their gruesome human rights practices, the LRA maintained (and possibly still do have) unofficial representatives in the UK. The International Court has recently indicted Kony and others in his "army". More recently still, a temporary cease-fire has been called while government and rebel negotiators meet in direct peace talks. Until the talks, much of the north has supposedly been a "no-go" zone, though on each of my visits to Uganda, the border of the dangerous zone has moved progressively further north.