This past week, although very hectic, was interesting. I made a presentation on Uganda in my class. I presented on the history, government (including the Lord’s Resistance Army), geography as well as my placement. This blog post I will cover the history and the government. Krista took over other topics and you can visit her blog here. She may post her details that she found when she writes her blog. Until then I can give you some more information about the topics that I researched. For all references to where I looked at the material please see the bibliography at the end. Unfortunately I do not know how to properly do referencing on this blogging tool. Each part of the bibliography is listed by section, so it should be relatively easy to find out where I got the information. If you are confused at all please send me a message or comment and I can help you out.
First I’ll show the information that I found on the history. The history of Uganda has many different governments which were overthrown by many other different governments. In order to know more about the country, however, it is important to know about its history. Uganda was found by the British in the 1860’s when they were looking for the origins of the Nile River which is located in Uganda. The British then took over Uganda and Kenya as its colonies. Uganda gained self rule in 1961 and this started the many different coups which occurred throughout Uganda’s history. In 1966 Prime Minister Milton Obote took over Uganda, suspended the constitution and assumed all of the government’s powers. Obote was in power until 1971 when he was run out of the country during a military coup led by Idi Amin Dada who then assumed power. Amin had many different human rights violations during his reign. Not only were there human rights violations but there was a large decline in the economic sphere. This decline is so great that they are still recovering from it. In 1979 a rebel army overthrew the government and Amin fled from the country. In 1989 President Obote came into power and this regime had one of the world’s worst human rights records. Then in 1985 the military took over and established a government. In 2005 a national referendum resulted in the adoption of a multiparty system. During this time there was also a law which eliminated presidential term limits. This allowed President Museveni (who was in power at that time) to be able to continue serving in government. The elections in 2006 declared President Museveni the winner for the third term in a row. The presidential elections occur every 5 years in the republic styled government which rules Uganda. The country has had a rocky history and it is now returning to peace and prosperity.
This country has a very unstable past which included many different military coups which frequently occurred. I cannot fathom what it would be like to live in a time when a country is in such a politically unstable. Everyone naturally wants to find peace and happiness and it would be terrifying when you think you are supporting the strongest party one day only to learn that they are not the next day. Not only are you lost in who to support but the other side has now targeted you as an enemy of the state. In Canada we are peaceful to the point where some people call our government a push-over on some subjects. We try to accommodate everyone who comes into our country, we try to make sure that they have housing (most of the time), that they are in good medical health and if they aren’t we have systems in place to help us get better, the government makes sure that if you are fired from your job that you will have some money still flowing through your bank account until you can get back on your feet. Our government is working for us, they are working to make sure that we are able to be taken care of. This is heaven compared to a country where you don’t even know who is in charge because it changes overnight. We are so lucky to have a government which is the same in the morning as it was the night before when we went to sleep. I am nervous to be going into a country which is so vastly different than ours. I am curious to see how this affects the people and how they think of their government. I know that our professor has told us that we are not supposed to talk openly about events in history. This may be a soft spot for the people in the country so I will try my best to carefully observe the people and their opinions of their government. I hope to gain some insight about how people interact with a government which has had many troubles in the past.
Bibliography
History Information
–United States Department of State. “Background Note: Uganda.” http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2963.htm#history .
Government Slide 1
–United States Department of State. “Background Note: Uganda.” http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2963.htm#history .
•Government Slide 2
Other Useful Links: (This is also my Bibliography)
•Amin Idi
•Country Flag
–Unknown. “Events for the Uganda Diaspora.” http://ugdiasporaevents.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/demonstrations-at-u-n-wednesday/.
•Child Soldier 1
–Unknown. “Ira Child Soldier.” http://joshuadysart.com/unknownsoldier/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/lra-child-soldier.jpg.
•Child Soldier 2
–Unknown. “Unknown.” http://en.kindernothilfe.org/multimedia/kmdb/[005]/5811_326x397_326x397_114x2-width-326-height-397-view_image-1-called_by-knhfs-original_site--original_page-105.jpg.
•History Information
–United States Department of State. “Background Note: Uganda.” http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2963.htm#history .
•Joseph Kony
•Lord’s Resistance Army Picture
•Lord’s Resistance Army Information
–Dunson, Donald H. “Child, Victim, Soldier.” Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2008.
•Government Slide 1
–United States Department of State. “Background Note: Uganda.” http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2963.htm#history .
•Government Slide 2
•Geography Slide 1
–BBC. “Country Guide: Uganda.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/country_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT000750.
•Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
•Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
•Queen Elizabeth National Park
•Murchison Falls National Park
•Semuliki National Park
•Kibale National Park
•Kamwokya Christian Caring Community
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