The president of the Republic of Uganda is the head of state and the head of government of Uganda. The president leads the executive branch of the government of Uganda and is the commander-in-chief of the Uganda People's Defence Force.
The president of the Republic of Uganda is the head of state and the head of government of Uganda. The president leads the executive branch of the government of Uganda and is the commander-in-chief of the Uganda People's Defence Force.
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing conflict between the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan militant religious extremist group, against the government of Uganda. Following the Ugandan Civil War, militant Joseph Kony formed the Lord's Resistance Army and launched an insurgency against the newly installed President Yoweri Museveni. The stated goal was to establish a Christian state based on the Ten Commandments. Currently, there is low-level LRA activity in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Kony proclaims himself the 'spokesperson' of God and a spirit medium.
The insurgency has become one of Africa's longest conflicts and has resulted in a lasting humanitarian crisis. The LRA has been accused by the International Criminal Court of widespread human rights violations, including mutilation, torture, slavery, rape, the abduction of civilians, the use of child soldiers, and a number of massacres. By 2004, the LRA had abducted more than 20,000 children, caused the displacement of 1.5 million civilians, and killed an estimation of 100,000 civilians.
Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985.
A Lango, Obote studied at the Busoga College and Makerere University. In 1956, he joined the Uganda National Congress (UNC) and later split away by founding the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) in 1960. After Uganda gained independence from British colonial rule in 1962, Obote was sworn in as prime minister in a coalition with the Kabaka Yekka, whose leader Mutesa II was named president. Due to a rift with Mutesa over the 1964 Ugandan lost counties referendum and later getting implicated in a gold smuggling scandal, Obote overthrew him in 1966 and declared himself president, establishing a dictatorial regime with the UPC as the sole official party in 1969. As president, Obote implemented ostensibly socialist policies, under which the country suffered from severe corruption and food shortages.
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (30 May 1928 – 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until his overthrow in 1979. An admirer of Adolf Hitler, he ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history. He is often called "Hitler of Africa" and his ideology draws similarity to National Socialism.
Amin was born to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army as a cook. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels and then the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and Amin remained in the army, rising to the position of deputy army commander in 1964 and being appointed commander two years later. He became aware that Ugandan president Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, so he launched the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état and declared himself president.
Paul Kagame (/kəˈɡɑːmeɪ/ kə-GAH-may; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously considered Rwanda's de facto leader between 1994 and 2000, while Vice President and Minister of Defence under President Pasteur Bizimungu, until assuming the Presidency in 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded Rwanda in 1990. The RPF was one of the main belligerents of the Rwandan Civil War and was the armed force which ended the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Born to a Tutsi family in southern Rwanda that fled to Uganda when he was two years old, Kagame spent the rest of his childhood there during the Rwandan Revolution, which ended Tutsi political dominance. In the 1980s, Kagame fought in Yoweri Museveni's rebel army becoming a senior Ugandan army officer after many military victories led Museveni to the Ugandan presidency. Kagame joined the RPF, taking control of the group when previous leader Fred Rwigyema died on the second day of the 1990 invasion. By 1993, the RPF controlled significant territory in Rwanda and a ceasefire was negotiated. The assassination of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana set off the genocide, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. Kagame resumed the civil war and ended the genocide with a military victory.
The politics of Uganda occurs in an authoritarian context. Since assuming office in 1986 at the end of the Ugandan civil war, Yoweri Museveni has ruled Uganda as a dictator. Political parties were banned from 1986 to 2006 in the wake of the 2005 Ugandan multi-party referendum which was won by pro-democracy forces. Since 2006, Museveni has used legal means, patronage, and violence to maintain power.
Under the Ugandan constitution, Uganda is a presidential republic in which the President is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government business. There is a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is given to both the government and the National Assembly. The system is based on a democratic parliamentary system with equal rights for all citizens over 18 years of age.The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Uganda a "hybrid regime" in 2022.
The prime minister of Uganda chairs the Cabinet of Uganda, although the president is the effective head of government. The prime minister is appointed by the president with the approval of Parliament.
Robinah Nabbanja has been the prime minister since 21 June 2021.
The Uganda People's Congress (UPC; Swahili: Congress ya Watu wa Uganda) is a political party in Uganda.
UPC was founded in 1960 by Milton Obote, who led the country to independence alongside UPC member of parliament A.G. Mehta. Obote later served two presidential terms under the party's banner. Obote was still the party head when he died in October 2005, although he had previously announced his intention to step down.
Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II KBE (19 November 1924 – 21 November 1969) was a Ugandan royal and statesman who served as the first president of Uganda from 1962 to 1966, when he was overthrown by Milton Obote. Mutesa was also the Kabaka (King) of the traditional kingdom of Buganda in Uganda from 22 November 1939 until his death in 1969.
He was often referred as King Freddie by the foreign press, a name rarely used in Uganda. Mutesa's defence of Bagandan interests and traditional autonomy led to conflicts with his erstwhile political ally Milton Obote, who would eventually overthrow him.