UGANDA

COMPENDIUM OF CONFLICTS IN UGANDA
predominantly conscripted into the police, army and prison systems, while the Baganda
from the central region were selected for office and administrative work, thereby putting
them in a position of power relative to other ethnic groups. The colonialists collaborated
with Buganda in order to colonise the rest of the country, pitting the region against the
other parts of Uganda. These divisions created by colonialists were reinforced after
Independence as a result of deadly events such as the 1966 Kabaka Crisis and the Bush
War from 1981-86.
In such conflicts, affected communities attributed most of the atrocities to northern
soldiers. There is also long-standing anger over the fact that in 1967, Prime Minister
Apollo Milton Obote, a northerner, abolished all Kingdoms, which were particularly
strong in the south.
The Government’s counter-insurgency strategies in northern Uganda, which began in
1986 86 and continued for two decades (ostensibly to contain the threat posed by the
Lord’s Resistance Army), resulted in mass internal displacement. Many people from the
North interpreted this as a further attempt to marginalise the North from the growth of
the South. This combination of factors marks a conflict between the North and South
that remains unresolved to date. 87
6. The Munana-Munana protest (1956)
In 1956, local traders led a boycott against Asian stores in Kampala in protest against
overexploitation and perceived discrimination. 88 A Muganda named Augustine Kamya
formed the Uganda National Movement (UNM), specifically recruiting groups of Baganda
who felt economically exploited and held longstanding grievances against the colonial
Government. 89 This movement eventually declared a trade boycott on non-African
goods, enforced through intimidation and violence against Asian traders and those
who attempted to buy from them. The Buganda Kingdom (Mengo) Government only
supported the boycott privately, as it was against its interests to publicly endorse such
lawlessness. Local people in the Buganda region, however, joined the boycott hoping to
obtain the reign over Asian-run ginneries and the marketing of cash crops. Eventually,
the colonial Government proscribed the protest and, when it turned violent, arrested
many of its leaders. 90
This altercation continued to threaten the relationship between Baganda and Asian
business operators in Buganda. These tensions were later exploited by Idi Amin in 1972
to justify the expulsion of Asians in order to gain mass support in Buganda.
86 Refugee Law Project (2004) Working paper no. 11: Behind the violence: Causes, consequences and the
quest for justice
87 Research conducted in Adjumani, Kitgum, Pader, Lira Districts
88 Research conducted in Arua District
89 Jørgensen, J. (1981) Uganda: a modern history. New York, St. Martin’s Press
90 Uganda Media Centre, Office of the President (date not indicated) Political History of Uganda, Uganda
Media Centre [Internet] Available from [Accessed
12 October 2012]
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