Uganda

Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa bordered by Kenya, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania, including a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, with a population of 45.9 million as of 2024, English as its official language and Swahili its second, and Kampala, home to 1.8 million people, as its capital. Named after the Buganda kingdom, the region was settled by Bantu and Nilotic groups arriving around 3,000 years ago who established influential kingdoms including the Empire of Kitara, before Arab traders arrived in the 1830s and Britain established the Protectorate of Uganda in 1894. Uganda gained independence in 1962 under prime minister Milton Obote; the 1966 Mengo Crisis converted the country from a parliamentary to a presidential system, Obote was overthrown by Idi Amin in a 1971 coup and Amin's brutal dictatorship lasted until 1979, and Obote's return to power after the disputed 1980 election prompted a six-year guerrilla war ending with Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement victory in 1986. Museveni, elected president in 2011, 2016, 2021 and 2026, has brought stability and economic growth alongside continuing political oppression and abolished presidential term limits; Uganda has made progress in education and health, including reducing HIV infection, while confronting corruption, the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency and involvement in the Congo Wars, and its service sector now surpasses agriculture in the economy.