Uganda

Uganda

Geography The following facts were found in the CIA World Factbook (cia.gov):
 * Located on the edge of the Equator, Uganda is positioned in south-central Africa, and bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania. (Found at worldatlas.com)
 * The total land boundaries are 2,698 km, and the countries that border Uganda are the Democratic Republic of the Congo (765 km), Kenya (933 km), Rwanda (169 km), South Sudan (435 km), and Tanzania (396 km ).
 * The total area is 241,038 sq km which is the 81st largest country in the world.
 * Of the total area, 197,100 sq km is land and 43,938 sq km is water.
 * Uganda is slightly smaller than the state of Oregon.
 * Uganda is landlocked, fertile, and a well-watered country with many lakes and rivers.
 * The climate is tropical, and generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August). In the northeastern region the climate is semiarid.
 * The terrain is mostly a plateau with a rim of mountains.
 * Natural resources include copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, arable land, and gold.
 * The current environmental issues are the draining of wetlands for agricultural use, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria, and widespread poaching.

History Timeline
 * British ruled over Uganda and parts of Kenya for some time. However in 1962, Britain granted internal self-government to Uganda. (Information obtained by the US Department of State.)
 * In 1966, Milton Obote becomes President of Uganda under the UPC. (Information obtained by the US Department of State.)
 * Prime Minister Milton Obote suspended the constitution and assumed all government powers. In September 1967, a new constitution proclaimed Uganda a republic, gave the president even greater powers, and abolished the traditional kingdoms. (Information obtained by the US Department of State.)
 * In 1976 Amin declares himself President for life.
 * In order to distract attention from the terrible economic situation in Uganda, Amin decided to invade Tanzania on 30 October 1978. However the war turned into a disaster for Amin. Early in 1979 the Tanzanians invaded Uganda and Amin's forces fled.
 * In 1980 Obote wins elections and is once again President of Uganda. However, five years later he is deposed and is replaced by the leader of the National Resistence Army (NRA), Yoweri Museveni, who declares himself president. (Information found by the US Department of State)
 * In the late 1980s the LRA (Lords Resistence Army) was formed to rebel against the government. They kidnapped and recruited child soldiers and used horrifying and brutal war tactics. (“Uganda Conflict Timeline”)
 * In 1996 Museveni wins the presidential the election with 75 per cent of the vote. (Cited by “A Brief History of Uganda”)
 * In 1997 Ugandan troops support Laurent Kabila and help depose Mobutu Sese Seko of The Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire). (Cited by “A Brief History of Uganda”)
 * Museveni launced a program called Operation Iron Fist in 2002. This program focused on wiping out the LRA completely. The LRA was the main source of violence and conflict in the country, so actions had to be taken to eliminate it. (“Uganda Conflict Timeline”)
 * From 2002-2004, measures of peace were taking place. In 2002 the government signs a peace treaty with the Uganda Nation Rescue Front. (“Uganda Conflict Timeline”)
 * In 2004, the government and the LRA began holding face to face peace talks. (“Uganda Conflict Timeline”)
 * In August of 2006 the LRA declares a ceasefire, and further peace talks are held throughout 2006 and 2007.
 * In 2008 the LRA and government sign a permanent ceasefire in February, however Joseph Kony doesn't attend the signing of a peace agreement in November. (“Uganda Conflict Timeline”)
 * In December of 2008 Uganda, DRC, and Sudan launch joint military offensive against LRA rebels in the DRC.
 * In January of 2009 the LRA appeals for a ceasefire and in March Ugandan forces begin to withdraw from DRC. (“Uganda Conflict Timeline”)
 * Museveni still remains president to this day. He won the February election in 2011 with 68% of the vote. (“Uganda Conflict Timeline”)

Economy (All above information under the economy section was found at cia.gov)
 * Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force.
 * Coffee accounts for the bulk of export revenues.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">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.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Uganda's GDP growth is relatively strong due to past reforms and sound management of the downturn.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Oil revenues and taxes will become a larger source of government funding as oil comes on line in the next few years.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Instability in southern Sudan is the biggest risk for the Ugandan economy in 2011 because Uganda's main export partner is Sudan, and Uganda is a key destination for Sudanese refugees.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">The country’s economic debt is $2.938 billion, which is the 131st largest debt in the world.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">The GDP Per Capita is about $1,300, and that ranks 203rd of all countries.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Uganda is ranked 26th of the 53 African countries in terms of GDP per capita. (Found at nationmaster.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">The size of the Ugandan economy is estimated at Uganda shillings 29.8 trillion by the end of June 2009, as compared to Uganda shillings 24.7 trillion in June 2008. This means that the size of our economy has expanded 8.4 times since the NRM took over power in 1986. (Found at africanexecutive.com)



<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">Statistics <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Violations of human rights, poverty, and disease have recently plagued Uganda.


 * __<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Health Issues __**

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> 1) Some food or waterborne diseases common in Uganda are: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever, vector-borne diseases: malaria, plague, and African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). (Information found on cia.gov) <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;"> 2) The water contact disease schistosomiasis is also present in Uganda. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">3)The animal contact disease rabies is a major problem(2009). (Information found on cia.gov)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">According to UNICEF, the life expectancy in Uganda is only 53 years. The US life expectancy is about 78 years old.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Only 67% of the population has access to improved drinking water, and one third of the population drinks infected water. People are not getting the clean drinking water that they need to survive. (Information found on UNICEF.org)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">About 6.5% of the total population living in Uganda has HIV, compared to less than .5% in the United States, making it one of the most infected and dangerous countries in the world. Even worse, there is very little information about HIV taught to kids in school. (Information found on UNICEF.org)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">There are only .1 physicians for every thousand people in Uganda. This means that there are not enough doctors to treat the entire population. (information found on UNICEF.org)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">The risk of infectious diseases are high.


 * __<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Economy __**


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">The poorest 20% of the population controls only 6.6% of the total wealth. The richest 20% of the population owns 46.1% of the wealth. This means that there is no true middle class. Everyone in Uganda is either rich or poor. (Information found on nationsencyclopedia.org)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Around 31% of the Ugandan population survives with less than one US dollar per day. (Information found on undp.org)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Only 8% of the population in Uganda has access to the internet. (Information found on UNICEF.org)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Temperature and weather fluctuations have reduced rainfall. As a result, many people in Uganda go without fresh drinking water and crop productions are unstable. This causes problems with Uganda's economy, which is dependant on coffee beans. (Information found on UNICEF.org)


 * __<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Violence and Human Rights Issues __**


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">The Ugandan Parliament is trying to create a bill that would make homosexuality a crime punishable by imprisonment or death. This is a direct violation to human rights. (Information found on cnn.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">Since 1986 the LRA has abducted over 25,000 children to serve as soldiers and sex slaves. (information found on fsdinternational.org)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">The Ugandan military often conducts brutal massacres in order to demonstrate their strength and power over its people. Among those to die in massacres are prominent Roman Catholic and Anglican clergy, Supreme Court judges, diplomats, academics, educators, Cabinet ministers, the chief justice, senior bureaucrats, medical practitioners, bankers, tribal leaders, business executives, journalists and a number of foreigners and ordinary citizens. (Information found on heyokamagazine.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">For the past ten years, residents of northern Uganda have been forcibly evicted by the government from their homes and herded into deplorable "displacement" camps. These are the so-called "protected villages." These camps are locally called concentration or death camps. (Information found on huffingtonpost.com)
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">It is rumored that the military often used drugs to enhance their soldier's abilities. They also used violence to create confusion, and build hatred towards the enemy. "It was rumored that he decapitated and ate his victims and kept some of his enemies' heads as trophies in his refrigerator and threw their bodies into his swimming pool filled with crocodiles."(Information found on heyokamagazine.com)



<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; text-align: center;">Quotes <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif;">"The children of Northern Uganda are being killed and brutalized, and the fascinating thing to us is that no one is telling this story. This tragedy gets no international attention at all. We are going to change that." -Jason Russell, filmmaker of Invisible Children documentary

"Northern Uganda presents a situation of extraordinary violation of the rights of children." -Carol Bellamy; former director of Peace Corps, executive director of UNICEF, and President and CEO of World Learning

"I saw the amount of poverty and the people living with AIDS. People my age, people younger, babies who are orphans because AIDS has taken their parents' life. It's incredible what's going on and we're just sitting here chillin'." -Alicia Keys

“As a Nobel Peace laureate, I, like most people, agonize over the use of force. But when it comes to rescuing an innocent people from tyranny or genocide, I've never questioned the justification for resorting to force. That's why I supported Vietnam's 1978 invasion of Cambodia, which ended Pol Pot's regime, and Tanzania's invasion of Uganda in 1979, to oust Idi Amin. In both cases, those countries acted without U.N. or international approval—and in both cases they were right to do so.” -José Ramos-Horta

"I went into Kitgum, Northern Uganda, on the Sudan border, twice. It is a town which has been practically under siege for the last 18 years, where 10,000 kids have been kidnapped by a vicious group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by a man many consider a psychopath, Joseph Kony. I filmed kids who had just managed to escape from the LRA. What they went through no-one should have to bear." -Alan Lindsay; writer and director of "Child Soldiers"

<span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; text-align: center;">Works Cited <span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">“About Uganda.” //Maps of the World//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.mapsofworld.com/‌country-profile/‌uganda-economy-people-culture-flag.html>. “African countries by GDP per capita .” //NationMaster//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nationmaster.com/‌graph/‌eco_afr_cou_by_gdp_per_cap_gdp_per_cap-african-countries-gdp-per-capita>. “Alicia Keys and Africa Experts Urge Full Funding for Global AIDS Programs.” //Hope for African Children Initiative//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. “Backround Note: Uganda .” //U.S Department of State//. N.p., 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. <http://www.state.gov/‌r/‌pa/‌ei/‌bgn/‌2963.htm#history>. “Carol Bellamy Quotes.” //BrainyQuote//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.brainyquote.com/‌quotes/‌quotes/‌c/‌carolbella296331.html>. CBN.COM. “Jason Russell: Filming the Invisible Children.” //The 700 Club//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.cbn.com/‌700club/‌Guests/‌Bios/‌Jason_Russell120205.aspx>. //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Central Intelligence Agency //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">. Uganda, n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <https://www.cia.gov/‌library/‌publications/‌the-world-factbook/‌geos/‌ug.html>. “Child Soldiers.” //ABC TV: Documentaries//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.abc.net.au/‌tv/‌documentaries/‌stories/‌s596672.htm>. “Genocide in Uganda: The African Nightmare Christopher Hitchens Missed.” //The Huffington Post//. N.p., 17 May 2006. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/‌daniella-boston/‌genocide-in-uganda-the-af_b_21150.html>. “Geography.” //Central Intelligence Agency//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <https://www.cia.gov/‌library/‌publications/‌the-world-factbook/‌geos/‌ug.html>. “Human Rights Issues in Uganda.” //Foundation for Sustainable Development//. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2011. <http://www.fsdinternational.org/‌ntlopps/‌country/‌uganda/‌humanrights>. Lambert, Tim. “A Brief History of Uganda.” //Local HIstories//. N.p., 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. <http://www.localhistories.org/‌uganda.html>. “A MAP OF AFRICA SHOWING THE LOCATION OF UGANDA.” //Lower Park School//. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. <http://www.lowerpark.school.cheshire.org.uk/‌uganda/‌africa-map-780px.jpg>. “MASTERPIECE OF CONFUSION IDI AMIN.” //pSyCh//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://heyokamagazine.com/‌HEYOKA.2.IDI%20AMIN.htm>. “Quotes about Uganda.” //Good Reads//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.goodreads.com/‌quotes/‌show/‌397826>. “Uganda.” //African Economic Outlook//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/‌en/‌countries/‌east-africa/‌uganda/>. “Uganda.” //Encyclopedia of he Nations//. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/‌economies/‌Africa/‌Uganda-POVERTY-AND-WEALTH.html>. “Uganda.” //Save the Children//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.savethechildren.org/‌site/‌c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/‌b.6150481/>. “Uganda.” //UNICEF//. N.p., 2 Mar. 2010. Web. 26 Nov. 2011. <http://www.unicef.org/‌infobycountry/‌uganda_statistics.html>. “Uganda: Conflict Timeline.” //Insight on Conflict//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.insightonconflict.org/‌conflicts/‌uganda/‌conflict-profile/‌conflict-timeline/‌?gclid=CLjDvbb12qwCFc7AKgodJxc-qA>. “Uganda-Economy.” //Encyclopedia of the Nations//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/‌Africa/‌Uganda-ECONOMY.html>. “Uganda Economy Resilient to Shocks.” //The African Executive//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.africanexecutive.com/‌modules/‌magazine/‌articles.php?article=4441>. “Uganda in the World.” //Wikipedia Commons//. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/‌wikipedia/‌commons/‌thumb/‌a/‌a8/‌Uganda_in_the_world_(W3).svg/‌800px-Uganda_in_the_world_(W3).svg.png>. “Uganda Profile.” //BBC News Africa//. N.p., 25 Nov. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/‌news/‌world-africa-14107906>. “Uganda’s Parliament Takes No Action on Anti-Gay Bill.” //CNN//. N.p., 13 May 2011. Web. 26 Nov. 2011. <http://www.cnn.com/‌2011/‌WORLD/‌africa/‌05/‌13/‌uganda.gay/‌index.html>. //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">World Atlas //<span style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. <http://www.worldatlas.com/‌webimage/‌countrys/‌africa/‌ug.htm>.