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Uganda

Uganda is a landlocked nation in eastern-Africa, that straddles the equator, west of Kenya, south of Sudan, with Rwanda and Tanzania to the south.  Uganda's western border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is defined by the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the Great Rift System of Africa. This Rift valley boundary area includes two of African Great Lakes, Lake Albert and Lake Edward, the snow-capped  Ruwenzori mountains (considered by many to be the legendary "Mountains of the Moon"), as well as many imperiled species, like the Mountain gorilla. Uganda is a fertile, well-watered country with many lakes and rivers, including a sizable part of Lake Victoria (a fifth of the country's area is water).  The country is mostly plateau declining in to the north and rimmed with highlands and mountains and volcanoes. Uganda's major environmental issues are rooted in meeting the human needs for land, firewood, and other natural resources for a rapidly growing population (3.6% per year). Issues include draining of wetlands for agricultural use; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; invasive species in Lake Victoria; and widespread poaching. The country's environmental challenges have been exacerbated by regional wars and civil unrest.

Location of Uganda. Source: Vardion/Wikipedia

Map of Uganda. Source: CIA World Factbook

Satellite Image of Uganda. Source: Cwolfsheep/Wikipedia/The Map Library

History

The nation of Uganda came into being as a result of British colonial activity which brought together several different African kingdoms under a single protectorate at the end of the nineteen century and during the beginning of the twentieth century. The kingdoms included Buganda (which gave the future nation its name), Bunyoro, Ankole, Toro, Lango, Acholi, Karamaja, several small kingdoms in the Kigezi region, and the west Nile region. The colonial boundaries created by Great Britain to delimit Uganda grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures. These differences prevented the establishment of a working political community after independence was achieved in 1962.

Milton Obote led the country under increasingly authoritarian and brutal rule from independence, until he was ousted in a coup led by the commander of the Ugandan army, Idi Amin. The dictatorial regime of Amin (1971-79) intensified the ethnic divisions and violence that marked Obote's rule, led the country into rapid decline in nearly all areas, and was responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 opponents. After starting a war with neigboring Tanzania, Amin was outsed in the resulting backlash, and Obote returned to power and misrule (1980-85). Obote's second period of power was marked by a  guerrilla war and human rights abuses which claimed at least another 100,000 lives, until he was ousted a second time by another commander of the Ugandan army, Titi Okello. A year later, Okello was himself deposed by an insurgency led by  Yoweri Museveni.

Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986 and has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. During the 1990s, the government promulgated non-party presidential and legislative elections. In 2006, Uganda held its first multi-party elections in a quarter of a century, with Museveni again elected as President.

Under Museveni, Uganda has still be troubled by civil unrest internally and involvement in regional wars externally. Internal conflicts have been particularly significant in the less developed north of  the country among Acholi, and the  in and around the districts of Gulu and Kitgum. The violent activities of the "Lord's Resistace Army" over twenty years have included massacres, maimings, child abductions and other atrocities which resulted in the group being classified as a terrorist organizations and arrest warrants being issued by the International Crimnal Court against its leaders. Dispite this, Uganda continued to make general progress in the development of its people and economically.

Geography

Location: Eastern Africa, west of Kenya and east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (whose border region is part of the Albertine Rift)

Geographic Coordinates: between latitudes 4^o12' N and 1^o29'S and longitudes 29^o35'E and 35^o00'E

Area: 236,040 km² (199,710 km² land and 36,330 km² water)

arable land: 21.57%
permanent crops: 8.92%
other: 69.51% (2005) 

Land Boundaries: 2,698 km. Border countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo 765 km, Kenya 933 km, Rwanda 169 km, Sudan 435 km, Tanzania 396 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime Claims: none (landlocked)

Natural Hazards: NA

Terrain: Mostly plateau with rim of mountains. Its lowest point is Lake Albert (621 metres) and its highest point is Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley (5,110 metres)

Climate: Tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August); semiarid in northeast

Government

Government Type: Republic

Capitol: Kampala

Independence Date: 9 October 1962 (from UK)

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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

International Environmental Agreements

Uganda is party to international agreements on: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, and Wetlands, It has signed, but not ratified an international agreement on Environmental Modification.

People and Society

Population: 31,367,972

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 50% (male 7,903,935/female 7,789,792)
15-64 years: 47.8% (male 7,528,073/female 7,469,938)
65 years and over: 2.2% (male 284,122/female 392,112) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 3.603% (2008 est.)

Birth Rate: 48.15 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 12.32 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: 0.21 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth: 52.34 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 6.81 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Languages: English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic

Literacy (2002 census): 66.8% (male: 76.8% - female: 57.7%)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 66 cu km (1970)

Freshwater Withdrawal: Total: 0.3 cu km/yr (43% domestic, 17% industrial, 40% agricultural). Per capita: 10 cu m/yr (2002)

Agriculture

Agricultural Products: coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco, cassava (tapioca), potatoes, corn, millet, pulses, cut flowers; beef, goat meat, milk, poultry

Irrigated Land: 90 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, arable land.

Energy

Uganda is an energy poor nation with limited access to electricity (less than 10% of the population, 3% in rural areas) and a heavy reliance of wood for the needs of most Ugandans. This is connected to economic poverty and continuing deforestation. A drop in the water level of Lake Victoria in 2005/6 led to a  major reduction in the nation's electricity supply  and an energy crisis. Uganda has rapidly expanded and diversified its energy supplies away from its near exclusive reliance of two hydroelectric facilities, but still has a supply shortfall. New energy hydroelectric and fossil fuel electric generating facilities are projected to come online over the next few years. Oil has recently been discovered in the western part of the country which will begin producing in 2009/10. These developments should help Uganda sustain the brisk economic growth experienced during much of the past two decades and broaden the access to modern energy supplies. However, growing Uganda's energy supplies include significant financial and environmental challenges.

See Energy profile of Uganda

Health

Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Adults: 4.1% (2003 est.)

Major Infectious Diseases: Degree of risk: very high

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: chikungunya, malaria, plague, and African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2008)

Conflict

International Disputes: Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders; Uganda hosts 209,860 Sudanese, 27,560 Congolese, and 19,710 Rwandan refugees, while Ugandan refugees as well as members of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) seek shelter in southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Garamba National Park; LRA forces have also attacked Kenyan villages across the border

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: - refugees (country of origin): 215,700 (Sudan); 28,880 (Democratic Republic of the Congo); 24,900 (Rwanda) - IDPs: 1.27 million (350,000 IDPs returned in 2006 following ongoing peace talks between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda) (2007)

Economy

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper, cobalt, gold, and other minerals. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee 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 especially aimed at dampening inflation and boosting production and export earnings. During 1990-2001, 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. Growth continues to be solid, despite variability in the price of coffee, Uganda's principal export, and a consistent upturn in Uganda's export markets. In 2000, Uganda qualified for enhanced Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief worth $1.3 billion and Paris Club debt relief worth $145 million. These amounts combined with the original HIPC debt relief added up to about $2 billion.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $29.04 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $11.23 billion (2007 est.)

GDP- real growth rate: 6.5% (2007 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $900 (2007 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 30.2%
industry: 24.7%
services: 45.1% (2007 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line: 35% (2001 est.)

Industries: sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles; cement, steel production

Exports: coffee, fish and fish products, tea, cotton, flowers, horticultural products; gold

Export Partners: Netherlands 10.1%, Belgium 9.7%, Germany 7.9%, France 7.2%, Rwanda 5.6% (2006)

Imports: capital equipment, vehicles, petroleum, medical supplies; cereals

Import Partners: Kenya 31.7%, China 8.6%, UAE 7.7%, India 5.2%, South Africa 5%, Japan 4.8% (2006)

Economic Aid Recipient: $1.198 billion (2005)

Currency: Ugandan shilling (UGX)

Ports and Terminals: Entebbe, Jinja, Port Bell

Further Reading

1. CIA World Factbook
2. Uganda country profile
3. Albertine Rift Overview - Profile
4. Africa collection