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Uganda gained independence from Britain in 1962 and experienced nearly ten years of multiparty democracy albeit under increasingly authoritarian President Milton Obote. Obote was ousted in 1971 by the non-commissioned army officer Idi Amin to initial widespread enthusiasm. He quickly dissolved the parliament and altered the constitution granting himself absolute power. Amin's eight-year rule was brutal. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people were killed during his regime; he particularly targeted the Acholi people of the north in part because of their support for his predecessor, Obote, and because traditionally composed the bulk of the army. Amin's government destroyed the developing economy by expelling all Asians from Uganda, who formed much of Uganda’s merchant class.

 

Idi Amin was overthrown 1979 by Tanzanian-backed rebellion including current President Museveni. Obote returned to power through rigged elections in 1980, prompting Museveni to launch guerrilla war in 1981. Obote’s regime committed massive human rights abuses in effort to crush Museveni's continued insurgency. Obote was overthrown in 1985 by a group of ethnic Acholi soldiers led by General Tito Okello. The Okello regime negotiated a power-sharing peace deal with Museveni’s rebel group. However, Museveni’s National Resistance Army continued its push to Kampala, took the capital in 1986, and installed a "no-party" political system.

 

Since Museveni and his National Resistance Movement took power in 1986, there have been several rebel movements based in northern Uganda that the government has defeated or with whom they have signed peace deals. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continues to fight the government, but has poorly defined political objectives. LRA has abducted an estimated 20,000 children in northern Uganda to serve as soldiers or sex slaves. To prevent looting and abductions, the Ugandan government created “protected villages” -- over-crowded, unsanitary, and dangerous internally displaced persons’ camps where millions of northern Ugandans have been forced to live. In 2002, the Ugandan government launched Operation Iron Fist in attempt to definitively defeat the insurgency, but the operation sparked more intense and violent attacks by the LRA, dramatically increased the number of internally displaced people, and failed to end the war.

 

In 2004, the Ugandan army enjoyed a series of successes against the LRA, and a number of senior rebel commanders took advantage of an amnesty offer to desert, but sporadic violence and abductions in northern Uganda and southern Sudan continued throughout 2005 as mediation efforts stalled.

 

In late 2005-early 2006, the LRA shifted their base into north-eastern Congo, near Garamba National Park, reinforcing the regional dimension of the LRA conflict. The International Criminal Court (ICC) unsealed arrest warrants for five LRA leaders in October 2005. Peace talks opened on 14 July 2006 between LRA rebels and Ugandan government in Juba, Sudan. The parties signed la andmark Cessation of Hostilities agreement on 26 August requiring LRA to assemble in safe zones in South Sudan, but both sides violated the deal. A revised agreement signed on 1 November revived hope that LRA would gather in the safe zones, but the implementation was undercut by weak monitoring and protection mechanisms. The Juba talks remain the best opportunity in 20 years to end the conflict of northern Uganda, but outstanding ICC arrest warrants, stalled progress on the political front and unclear commitment by both parties remain stumbling blocks for peace talks.