Africans of three main ethnic groups--Bantu, Nilotic, and Nilo-Hamitic--constitute most of Uganda’s population. The Bantu are the most numerous and include the Baganda, who with 18% of the population, constitute the largest single ethnic group. Individual ethnic groups in the southwest are the Banyankole and Bahima, the Bakiga, the Banyarwanda, the Bunyoro, and the Batoro. Residents of the north, largely Nilotic, include the Langi, and the Acholi. In the northwest are the Lugbara, and the Karamojong, who occupy the considerably drier, largely pastoral territory in the northeast. The Basoga, are among ethnic groups in the east. Europeans, Asians, and Arabs make up about 1% of the population with other groups accounting for the remainder.

Uganda\'s population is predominately rural, and its population density highest in the southern regions. Until 1972, Asians constituted the largest non indigenous ethnic group in Uganda. In that year, the Idi Amin regime expelled 50,000 Asians, who had been engaged in trade, industry, and various professions. In the years since Amin\'s overthrow in 1979, Asians have slowly returned and now number around 30,000. Other non indigenous people in Uganda include Arabs, Western missionaries, NGO workers, diplomats and business people.

When Arab traders moved inland from their enclaves along the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa and reached the interior of Uganda in the 1830s, they found several African kingdoms with well-developed political institutions dating back several centuries. These traders were followed in the 1860s by British explorers searching for the source of the Nile River. Protestant missionaries entered the country in 1877, followed by Catholic missionaries in 1879.

In 1888, control of the emerging British \"sphere of interest\" in East Africa was assigned by royal charter to the Imperial British East Africa Company, an arrangement strengthened in 1890 by an Anglo-German agreement confirming British dominance over Kenya and Uganda. The high cost of occupying the territory caused the company to withdraw in 1893, and its administrative functions were taken over by a British commissioner. In 1894, the Kingdom of Buganda was placed under a formal British protectorate. 

Britain granted internal self-government to Uganda in 1961, with the first elections held on March 1, 1961. Benedicto Kiwanuka of the Democratic Party became the first Chief Minister. Uganda maintained its Commonwealth membership. 

In succeeding years, supporters of a centralized state vied with those in favor of a loose federation and a strong role for tribally-based local kingdoms. Political maneuvering climaxed in February 1966, when Prime Minister Milton Obote suspended the constitution, assumed all government powers, and removed the president and vice president from power. In September 1967, a new constitution proclaimed Uganda a republic, gave the president even greater powers, and abolished the traditional kingdoms. On January 25, 1971, Obote\'s government was ousted in a military coup led by armed forces commander Idi Amin Dada. Amin declared himself president, dissolved the parliament, and amended the constitution to give himself absolute power. 

Idi Amin\'s 8-year rule produced economic decline, social disintegration, and massive human rights violations. The Acholi and Langi ethnic groups were particular objects of Amin\'s political persecution because they had supported Obote and made up a large part of the army. In 1978, the International Commission of Jurists estimated that more than 100,000 Ugandans had been murdered during Amin\'s reign of terror.

In October 1978, Tanzanian armed forces repulsed an incursion of Amin\'s troops into Tanzanian territory. The Tanzanian force, backed by Ugandan exiles, waged a war of liberation against Amin\'s troops and Libyan soldiers sent to help him. On April 11, 1979, Kampala was captured, and Amin fled with his remaining forces. 

After Amin\'s removal, the Uganda National Liberation Front formed an interim government with Yusuf Lule as president. This government adopted a ministerial system of administration and created a quasi-parliamentary organ known as the National Consultative Commission (NCC). The NCC and the Lule cabinet reflected widely differing political views. In June 1979, following a dispute over the extent of presidential powers, the NCC replaced Lule with Godfrey Binaisa. In a continuing dispute over the powers of the interim presidency, Binaisa was removed in May 1980. Thereafter, Uganda was ruled by a military commission chaired by Paulo Muwanga. The December 1980 elections returned the UPC to power under the leadership of President Obote, with Muwanga serving as vice president. Under Obote, the security forces had one of the world\'s worst human rights records. In their efforts to stamp out an insurgency led by Yoweri Museveni\'s National Resistance Army (NRA), they laid waste to a substantial section of the country, especially in the Luwero area north of Kampala. 

Obote ruled until July 27, 1985, when an army brigade, composed mostly of ethnic Acholi troops and commanded by Lt. Gen. Basilio Olara-Okello, took Kampala and proclaimed a military government. Obote fled to exile in Zambia. The new regime, headed by former defense force commander Gen. Tito Okello (no relation to Lt. Gen. Olara-Okello), opened negotiations with Museveni\'s insurgent forces and pledged to improve respect for human rights, end tribal rivalry, and conduct free and fair elections. In the meantime, massive human rights violations continued as the Okello government murdered civilians and ravaged the countryside in order to destroy the NRA\'s support. 

Negotiations between the Okello government and the NRA were conducted in Nairobi in the fall of 1985, with Kenyan President Daniel Moi seeking a cease-fire and a coalition government in Uganda. Although agreeing in late 1985 to a cease-fire, the NRA continued fighting, seized Kampala in late January 1986, and assumed control of the country, forcing Okello to flee north into Sudan. Museveni\'s forces organized a government with Museveni as president. 

Since assuming power, the government dominated by the political grouping created by Museveni and his followers, the National Resistance Movement (NRM or the \"Movement\"), has largely put an end to the human rights abuses of earlier governments, initiated substantial political liberalization and general press freedom, and instituted broad economic reforms after consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and donor governments. 

A referendum was held in March 2000 on whether Uganda should retain the Movement system or adopt multi-party politics. Although 70% of voters endorsed retention of the Movement system, the referendum was widely criticized for low voter turnout and unfair restrictions on Movement opponents. Museveni was reelected to a second five-year term in March 2001. Parliamentary elections were held in June 2001, and more than 50% of contested seats were won by newcomers. Movement supporters nevertheless remained in firm control of the legislative branch. Observers believed that the 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections generally reflected the will of the electorate; however, both were marred by serious irregularities, particularly in the period leading up to the elections, such as restrictions on political party activities, incidents of violence, voter intimidation, and fraud. 

In 2001 the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) began soliciting opinions and holding public hearings on amending the 1995 Constitution. The CRC was set up to examine the constitutional provisions relating to sovereignty, political systems, democracy and good governance. Its report, scheduled for release by October 2003, has not yet been delivered to Cabinet or made public. The Cabinet, however, presented a list of its suggestions for constitutional change to the CRC. These changes included the introduction of a full multiparty system, an increase in executive authority vis-à-vis the other branches, and the lifting of presidential term limits.

Uganda\'s economy has great potential. Endowed with significant natural resources, including ample fertile land, regular rainfall, and mineral deposits, it appeared poised for rapid economic growth and development at independence. However, chronic political instability and erratic economic management produced a record of persistent economic decline that left Uganda among the world\'s poorest and least-developed countries.

Below is an analysis of Uganda according to The 2005 Index of Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation Heritage and The Wall Street Journal:

Rank: 74

Score: 3.00

Category: Mostly Unfree

Population: 24,600,000

Total area:  236,040 sq. km

GDP: $8.8 billion

GDP growth rate: 6.7%

GDP per capita: $359

Major exports: coffee, tea, gold, cotton, fish products

Exports of goods and services: $1.75 billion

Major export trading partners: Belgium 16.3%, Netherlands 13.8%, Germany 7.2%, Spain 5.6%

Major imports: vehicles, petroleum, medical and pharmaceutical products, cereals

Imports of goods and services: $1.76 billion

Major import trading partners: Kenya 44.8%, South Africa 6.7%, India 5.6%, UK 5.4%, France 3.3%

Foreign direct investment (net): $200.9million (2001)

REFERENCES

www.historyofnations.net/africa/uganda.html

www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2963.htm

The 2005 Index of Economic Freedom, The Heritage Foundation Heritage and The Wall Street Journal