When was uganda colonized by the british

The ADF started out with the aim of overthrowing President Museveni, but went on to absorb other rebel factions, and has carried out random massacres over two decades. Uganda country profile - home. British influence. Idi Amin years.

Milton Obote becomes president after elections. Beginnings of recovery. Campaign against rebels. Multi-party politics. Image source, AFP. Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony. It was described at the time as "the sovereign state of Uganda". The relationship between Buganda and the central government remained a crucial political problem, since the people of the three western kingdoms resented the special status accorded to Baganda and were to demonstrate their dissatisfaction by voting for DP in In April , Obote suspended the constitution and declared himself Executive President.

The Buganda declared Obote's actions null and void, passing a resolution demanding the withdrawal of the central government from Buganda soil by March 30 On May 24 government troops stormed the Kabaka's palace, seizing it after a day's fighting.

Mutesa consequently fled to Britain, where he died three years later. To consolidate his power, Obote introduced a republican constitution that abolished the four kingdoms and made Uganda a unitary state. In he introduced "the Common Man's Charter," which was designed to transform Uganda into a socialist state. Opponents of these measures believed that Obote was trying to turn Uganda into a communist state. On January 25, , when Obote was attending the Commonwealth Conference in Singapore, Major-General Idi Amin seized power with considerable internal and external support.

Immediately after the coup, Amin adopted a strong pro-Western stance. He declared that Israel and Britain were favored allies. Within two years, Amin had imposed one of the severest dictatorships in Africa.

Throughout he systematically eliminated soldiers suspected of remaining loyal to Obote. After an abortive invasion of Uganda by Obote's supporters in September , Amin began to murder civilians in large numbers. In January the regime was forced to admit that 86 prominent citizens had mysteriously disappeared, including Chief of Justice Kiwanuka, the. Many other disappearances were to follow in coming years. After several years of terror and killings, the death toll had risen as high as ,, according to Amnesty International estimates.

In relations between Uganda and the Western powers began to deteriorate. The United States closed its embassy in Kampala in protest against the death of two Americans at the hands of Amin's soldiers. Amin expelled Israeli nationals from Uganda in and adopted a strong pro-Palestinian stance. In August Amin announced that alien Asians would be expelled from the country. Uganda turned to the Soviet Union and Arab states for military and financial support. Early in Amin endorsed the mass slaughter of Acholis and Langis.

Human rights violations soon led the US government to ban trade with Uganda. On October 31, Amin's forces crossed the border with Tanzania and occupied the Kagera area. Tanzania retaliated, seeking to punish Amin severely. Under pressure from President Nyerere, a meeting was convened in March at Moshi in Tanzania; this meeting resulted in the formation of a coalition of 18 Ugandan groups of various ethnic, ideological and political alignments, which came to be called the Uganda National Liberation Front UNLF.

On January 22, the joint liberation forces crossed the border. Libya subsequently sent 1, troops to support the Amin regime but proved unable to stop the liberation forces. As they advanced on Kampala, Amin's soldiers and the Libyans fled for other parts of the country. Amin fled to Libya and later to Saudi Arabia. Professor Lule arrived in Kampala on April 13 to be sworn in as head of state of a provisional government. President Binaisa sought to achieve political stability, broadening the political base of the government by enlarging the NCC to 91 members.

Each of Uganda's 31 districts was to nominate three representatives whose credentials would be examined by the NCC. This measure resulted in the inclusion of the Uganda Liberation Group and the Ugandan National Union, both of which had been operating underground during Amin's rule. A military commission was established under the leadership of P.

MuWanaga, a strong supporter of former President Obete. The military commission organized elections for December Moreover, he simultaneously held the posts of Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign affairs. MuWanga was made vice president and Minister of Defense. Though the DP and the UPM complained of electoral fraud, Obote had made an unprecedented political comeback to win thee election and the support of the army.

British East Africa Company: As with the areas being colonized by Rhodes at this same period in southern Africa, the British government is reluctant to take active responsibility for the region of east Africa which is now its acknowledged sphere of interest. Instead it assigns to a commercial company the right to administer and develop the territory. The region given into the company's care stretches all the way from the east coast to the kingdom of Buganda, on the northwest shore of Lake Victoria.

It is evident to all that the development of this region depends on the construction of a railway from the coast to Lake Victoria, but circumstances conspire to make this task far beyond the abilities of the East Africa Company. The running sore which saps their energy and their funds is Buganda. Being in a sense beyond Lake Victoria, Germany is able to argue that this region the most powerful kingdom within the territory of Uganda is not covered by the territorial agreement with Britain.

Moreover the irrepressible Karl Peters now forces the issue. In he arrives at Kampala and persuades the kabaka the king of Buganda to sign a treaty accepting a German protectorate over his kingdom. A possibly dangerous confrontation between the imperial powers is averted when the British prime minister, Lord Salisbury , proposes a deal which Berlin, remarkably, accepts.

Salisbury offers the tiny and apparently useless island of Heligoland in British possession since in return for German recognition of British protectorates in Zanzibar , Uganda and Equatoria the southern province of Sudan. But Germany derives her own benefit from the deal. Heligoland subsequently proves an invaluable naval base in two world wars. Meanwhile the East Africa Company faces further problems in Buganda, where civil war breaks out between factions led by British Protestant missionaries and their French Catholic rivals.

In January there is heavy gunfire between and among the four hills which form Kampala. On the top of one hill is the palace of the kabaka.

On another the French have completed a Catholic cathedral of wooden poles and reeds. On a third the Protestants are building their church. On the fourth is the fort established for the company by Frederick Lugard, who is the only combatant with the advantage of a Maxim machine gun.

Lugard prevails. But the loss of life and destruction of property in this unseemly European squabble makes it plain that the East Africa Company is incapable of fulfilling its duties. In the British government declares a protectorate over Buganda. Two years later British control is extended to cover the western kingdoms of Ankole, Toro and Bunyoro - to form, together with Buganda, the Uganda Protectorate.

Meanwhile the much larger region of Kenya has been relatively calm, even if the East Africa Company has achieved little of value there. But in taking responsibility for Uganda, the British government needs to be sure of the new protectorate's access to the sea.

Kenya becomes another new responsibility of the British government, as the East Africa Protectorate. Recent events in Uganda have made evident the difficulties likely to be faced by any colonial power.

As a result the British government appoints in a seasoned administrator, Harry Johnston , as special commissioner to Uganda. Africa and British Colonialism - Foes or Friends? As someone born in colonial controlled Uganda but now a British citizen, Sam Akaki considers the balance sheet and impact of imperialism on the place of his birth. Empire Day at Fort Portal N. Andrews' extracts of a letter sent home from Uganda in give an interesting account of how the 'Empire' was celebrated in even the remotest of locations.

Uganda Safari by H. Prince of Wales J.