Uganda

Since independence in 1962, Uganda has been almost continually affected by conflict. While since 1986 the rule of Yoweri Museveni has brought relative stability and economic growth, a deadly civil war between government forces and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a sectarian religious and military group based in the north (but operating also in Sudan, Central African Republic (CAR) and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)) has continued, and has led to the deaths of 65,000 people and the displacement of at least 1.8 million.

During an abortive two-year peace process between the LRA and the Government of Uganda (GoU), which broke down in 2008, the LRA moved out of Uganda and into the DRC and CAR. While the LRA remains active, Northern Uganda has been spared its predations for several years. In the intervening years, the GoU began implementing the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for Northern Uganda from 2008, the international humanitarian response has begun to shift into early recovery and development and in 2012, for the first time in 11 years, Uganda was no longer included in the UN’s humanitarian appeal.

In addition to conflict and unrest, Uganda experiences frequent natural disasters. A landslide in February 2010 killed 388 people, a flood in August 2007 affected 718,045 people and droughts occur regularly. The most recent one, in 2008, affected 750,000 people.