Uganda: Government

Principal Government Officials

Chief of State: President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
Head of Government: Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi

The 1995 constitution established Uganda as a republic with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The constitution provides for an executive president, to be elected every 5 years. President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, was elected in 1996 and reelected in 2001, 2006, and 2011. Legislative responsibility is vested in the parliament; legislative elections are held every 5 years. Because of redistricting, the parliament elected in February 2011 grew from 332 to 375 members, including 112 special seats for women, 10 special seats for military, five for youth, and five for persons with disabilities. The Ugandan judiciary operates as an independent branch of government and consists of magistrate's courts, high courts, courts of appeals (which also function as constitutional courts), and the Supreme Court. Parliament and the judiciary are independent bodies and wield significant power.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS
After decades of internal strife, Uganda has experienced more than 20 years of relative political stability and economic growth. However, rampant corruption and one of the world’s highest population growth rates present challenges to the country’s continued economic growth and political stability.

Uganda's constitution provides for freedom of speech, religion, and movement. Press and civil society enjoy relative freedom. However, the government sometimes uses charges of unlawful assembly, inciting violence, and promoting sectarianism to curtail government critics’ freedom of speech and assembly. In April and May 2011, the government’s heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful opposition “walk-to-work” protests led to at least 10 deaths, numerous injuries, and hundreds of arrests, including of prominent opposition leaders. In September 2009, the government’s restriction on the travel of the Buganda Kingdom’s prime minister to Kayunga district, combined with incorrect reports of the prime minister’s arrest, sparked 3 days of riots in Kampala that left at least 40 people dead and many more injured.

The vicious and cult-like Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which sought to overthrow the Ugandan Government, operated in northern Uganda from 1986 to 2006, where it killed tens of thousands of people, abducted thousands of children to serve as soldiers and slaves, and displaced approximately 1.8 million Ugandans. Human rights abuses committed by the LRA include murder, mutilation, abduction of young women for sexual servitude, and kidnapping of children to become rebel fighters.

In 2005, the Ugandan military pushed the LRA out of northern Uganda. The LRA escaped to and continued to operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.), as well as in Southern Sudan and the Central African Republic (C.A.R.). Under military pressure, the LRA rebels requested peace talks, which Government of Southern Sudan Vice President Riek Machar mediated and which after 2.5 years resulted in a Final Peace Agreement (FPA) in April 2008. However, LRA leader Joseph Kony ultimately refused to sign the FPA and continued to commit atrocities against local populations in D.R.C., Southern Sudan, and C.A.R. In December 2008, the Governments of Uganda, D.R.C., and Southern Sudan launched a joint military operation against the LRA in northeastern D.R.C. This operation is ongoing as of 2011 and extends across LRA-affected areas in D.R.C., C.A.R., and South Sudan.

There have been no LRA attacks in northern Uganda since August 2006. As a result, the vast majority of the 1.8 million former internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to or near their homes. Assistance from the Government of Uganda through its Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) and from international donors has helped communities in northern Uganda rebuild and recover from the 20-year humanitarian catastrophe caused by the LRA.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
The Ugandan Government generally seeks good relations with other nations without reference to ideological orientation. Uganda's relations with Rwanda, D.R.C., and Sudan have sometimes been strained because of security concerns. Uganda, D.R.C., Rwanda, and Burundi participated in the U.S.-facilitated Tripartite Plus process, which helped ease tensions and contributed to increased bilateral contacts with the aim of resolving conflicts between the neighbors. Uganda has over 4,000 peacekeepers in Somalia as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

In addition to its friendly ties to Western nations, Uganda has maintained ties with North Korea, Libya, and Iran.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group operating in western Uganda and eastern D.R.C. near the Rwenzori Mountains, emerged as a localized threat in 1996 and inflicted substantial suffering on the population in the area. It has largely been defeated by the Uganda People's Defense Force, and the affected areas of western Uganda have been secured. Remnants of the ADF remain in eastern D.R.C.

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