UGANDA

1. UGANDA

2. A land with potential • Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, small deposits of copper, gold, and other minerals, and recently discovered oil. • Coffee is their main export

3. The Early years of Obote’s Uganda • Uganda became independent in 1962. • Milton Obote was elected the first prime minister • Sir Edward Mutesa was elected the first president • With the help of Col. Idi Amin, Obote seized control of the government from President Mutesa four years later.

4. The Reign of Amin BEGINS • 1971- Colonel Amin deposed President Obote. • Obote went into exile in Tanzania. • After taking power, Amin announced that the military government would remain only as a caretaker regime until new elections. He was believed to be a savior to the Ugandan people and would restore national pride . The nation was hopeful.

5. Amin rules with an iron fist • Amin instead ruled the country with the military throughout his reign • Amin launched a reign of terror against Ugandan opponents, torturing and killing 300,000

6. The world tries to figure out amin

7. Amin finds his allies • He turned to Libya and the Soviet Union for support. • Amin became an outspoken critic of Israel.

8. Amin removes the foreigners • He forcibly removed the entrepreneurial South Asian minority from Uganda. • These people had been the backbone of the Ugandan economy • He went on to nationalize UK holdings and expel other foreigners

9. AIR FRANCE HIJACKING • 1976, Amin allowed an Air France airliner hijacked by Palestinian terrorists to land in Uganda. • 156 non-Jewish hostages who did not hold Israeli passports were released • 83 Jews and Israeli citizens, as well as 20 others who refused to abandon them continued to be held hostage. • An Israeli rescue operation freed nearly all the hostages

10. Amin GOES TO FAR • In 1976, he proclaimed himself "President for Life”. • Most Western powers had grown to hate Amin and endorsed his removal • Amin held military exercises on the Tanzanian border in 1978, angering Tanzania. • A combined force of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles loyal to former president Obote invaded Uganda and chased Amin into exile in Saudi Arabia in 1979.

11. Back to Obote • After a series of interim administrations, President Obote led his People's Congress Party to victory in 1980 elections that opponents charged were rigged. • Obote conducted a reign of terror in order to crush dissent • 1985, army troops staged a coup and took over the government. • Obote fled into exile.

12. One more transition of power • The military regime installed Gen. Tito Okello as chief of state. • The National Resistance Army (NRA), an anti-Obote group led by YoweriMuseveni, kept fighting after it had been excluded from the new regime. It seized Kampala on Jan. 29, 1986, and Museveni was declared president.

13. Museveni • Museveni has transformed Uganda into an economic miracle, preaching a philosophy of self-sufficiency and anti-corruption. • Western countries have flocked to assist him in the country's transformation. • A ban on political parties was lifted in 1996, and the incumbent Museveni won 72% of the vote, reflecting his popularity due to the country's economic recovery.

14. Museveni remains popular • Uganda has waged an enormously successful campaign against AIDS, dramatically reducing the rate of new infections through an intensive public health and education campaign. • In July 2005, parliament amended the constitution to eliminate term limits, thus allowing President Museveni another term in office. In August, a multi-party political system was reinstituted after a 19-year absence. In Feb. 2006, Museveni was reelected with 59% of the vote.

15. Battling the lra • Uganda's 18-year-long battle against the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) showed signs of abating in 2006 when the rebels agreed to declare a truce. • Between 8,000 and 10,000 children have been abducted by the LRA to form the army of "prophet" Joseph Kony, whose aim was to take over Uganda and run it according to his vision of Christianity.

16. LRA continues to fight • The boys are turned into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves. • Up to 1.5 million people in northern Uganda have been displaced because of the fighting and the fear that their children will be abducted. • Konyand three other LRA leaders have been indicted on charges of crimes against humanity • It is believed Sudan is aiding Kony

17. Anti-Homosexuality bill • Parliament introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in November 2009. • The legislation would implement the death penalty on gay individuals. • The proposed bill met fierce condemnation from the European Union and the United States. • In May of 2011, the government shelved the bill. • In February 2012, Anti-homosexuality bill was reintroduced. • The bill drew ire from Western nations and drifted listlessly in Parliament. • The Obama administration recently said it would use its foreign diplomatic tools, including aid, to promote equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people around the world. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain threatened to cut aid for countries that do not accept homosexuality. • The government of President Museveni, while distancing itself from the bill, defended the right for the bill to be debated in Uganda’s Parliament, saying in a recent statement that “cultural attitudes in Africa are very different to elsewhere.”

18. 4th term • Musveni was elected to a fourth term in February 2011 elections, taking 68.4% of the vote. • Opposition leader KizzaBesigye garnered 26% and alleged fraud in the election. • In late April, protests over rising food and fuel prices and corruption broke out in Kampala. • The government responded with disproportionate force, killing five people and wounding dozens. • Besigye, who was a leading figure in organizing the protests, was arrested and shot. He fled to Kenya upon release from jail for medical treatment. • His return to Uganda coincided with Musveni's inauguration, and Besigye's supporters far outnumbered those for the president. In fact, the opposition launched the largest anti-government protest to date.

19. Uganda Today • The economy has steadily worsened, with prices for everything, from bananas to gas, doubling • The Ugandan shilling was one of the world’s worst-performing currencies against the dollar in 2011, and the overall economic malaise was fueling an urban protest movement that has become the longest in sub-Saharan Africa, with many Ugandans saying they are drawing inspiration from the Arab Spring. • Corruption and waste pervade a society steeped in neglect. • While the government enjoys newly acquired fighter jets and spy drones, the roads are cratered with potholes. Kampala, its capital, suffers rolling blackouts, partly because the government has failed to pay its fuel bills and yet street lamps burn uselessly during the day.

20. OIL • The recent discovery of large reserves of oil — estimated to be at least 2.5 billion barrels — could turn Uganda into a major player in Africa. • The expected revenue of up to $2 billion a year has the potential to propel Uganda into the strata of middle-income countries, where few sub-Saharan African countries rank. • Yet there are growing worries that the oil may prove to be more of a curse than a gift, similar to the fates of other countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have joined the petroleum bonanza. • Uganda is considered by international experts to be among the most corrupt nations in the world, and even before oil production has begun, several senior government officials, including the prime minister, have been accused of pocketing millions of dollars in bribes from oil companies. • In October 2011, lawmakers accused officials close to President Museveni of accepting millions of dollars in bribes. • Parliament met in an emergency session and called for the country’s prime minister, foreign minister and internal affairs minister to step down while it investigated allegations that millions of dollars in bribes were paid to various officials • http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444301704577631332338109986.html

21. Links • Anti-Homosexual CNN Museveni • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAZXxGdVAxU • Hard Talk Part 1 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vWAdY0uZvA • Hard Talk Part 2 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjaqtTMF24c