SUMMARY
Organized violence has been a long-standing problem in Uganda, especially in rural areas in the north of the country, where armed groups have been active since the 1980s. Although the government has made efforts to combat violence and improve security in the country, many rebel groups continue to operate and commit atrocities, including the kidnapping and recruitment of child soldiers, sexual violence, and massacres.
Since 1989, Uganda has experienced the intrastate, non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
Constant violence
Most peaks in the number of fatalities in Uganda are the result of the fighting related to the conflict over government, including different rebel groups. Throughout the years, there were several instances of violence against civilians perpetrated both by the Government of Uganda as well as by various rebel groups resulting in high numbers of civilian fatalities.
The first peak in number of fatalities took place in 1989 as a result of the fighting between the Government of Uganda and two rebel groups: the Uganda People’s Army (UPA) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The UPA perpetrated massacres against civilians in the Soroti and Tororo districts. On the other hand, the LRA was active mainly in different counties across the Gulu district, where it also carried out several acts of violence against civilians.
While the activity of the UPA gradually decreased, the LRA continued to be active for several more years. The second peak in number of fatalities took place in 1991 caused by the continuous fight between the LRA and the government of Uganda. The group continued killing civilians in the Gulu and the Kitgum districts. The Government of Uganda was also responsible for several civilian massacres also in Kitgum, Gulu and Soroti, although the number of death amounted to about half of those caused by the LRA. After a brief decrease in number of fatalities, the levels of violence started increasing again in 1994 and kept increasing in 1995. Following the trend, the most active rebel group was the LRA, with heavy fighting between the group and the government. Fighting took place mostly in Gulu and Kitgum, being heavier in the former than in the latter district.
In 1996, the number of fatalities reached new heights as the result of the ongoing conflict over government and several occurrences of one-sided violence by various rebel groups. The LRA continued being active in fighting the government and with massacres against civilians primarily in the districts of Gulu and Kitgum, but also in Moyo and Masindi. On the other hand, new groups emerged or increased their activities. The West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), a group formed in South Sudan but with the goal of toppling the Ugandan government, clashed with government forces and carried violent acts against civilians in the districts Nebbi and Arua. And the rebel group Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF), which would go on to be one of the most active groups well into the 2000s, fought the government mainly in the Kasese district this year. After this peak, the number of fatalities started decreasing even though the conflict over government continued.
The next peak in number of fatalities came in 2000 as a result of several instances of communal and ethnic conflicts in northern Uganda due to clashing interests surrounding their livelihood practices, cattle raising and farming. Groups like the Bokora Karimojong, Matheniko Karimojong, Jie, Pian Karimojong, Pokot, Dodoth and Turkana -among others- were involved in different conflicts with each other in the Kotido and Moroto districts. In some instances, these groups also formed temporary alliances with each other in order to fight other groups.
The fighting against the ADF and the LRA, as well as their violent actions against civilians started rising again in 2002. ADF was mostly active in the Bundibugyo, Kabarole, Kamwenge and Kibale districts, both in fighting the governments and carrying acts of violence against civilians. The LRA, while also perpetrating violence against civilians and clashing against the government, was active in the districts of Kitgum and Gulu. In 2004, the number of fatalities from the fighting between the LRA and the government reached the same high levels as in 1996 and it took place in the Gulu, Pader, Kitgum and Lira districts.
After 2007, Uganda's conflicts have mainly been fought in neighboring countries. The conflict with LRA was spread over a vast area affecting Central African Republic, DR Congo (Zaire) and South Sudan. The other main rebel group in the period, ADF, moved their bases to DR Congo (Zaire) and in 2019, it pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
In 2021, after years of having moved their bases to the DR Congo (Zaire) and thus carrying out their activities in several Congolese districts, the ADF, which pledged allegiance to IS in 2019, started carrying out activities in Uganda again. At the same time, several cells specialized in financing the group’s activities were found across Kampala. Casualties from this conflict were the result of several attacks targeting government forces using Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that took place mostly in Kampala, but also in the Wakiso district. However, it was not until the following year, in 2022, that the intrastate conflict reached 25 fatalities. The Ntoroko and Wakiso districts saw most fatalities in December 2022, when over 20 fighters crossed the Congolese border into Uganda prompting the Ugandan army to track them down.
Uganda as a secondary warring party
Aside from the internal conflicts plaguing the country, Uganda has also been deeply involved in many of the conflicts in the surrounding region, although the involvement has in most cases concerned support such as arms supplies. However, in the conflict in neighbouring DR Congo (Zaire), Museveni sent troops first in aid of the rebel group who eventually toppled the regime of Mobutu Seso Seke, and later in aid of rebels fighting the new regime of Laurent Kabila.
In 2021, and once again in the DR Congo (Zaire), a joint military operation between the Government of the DRC and the Government of Uganda was launched under the name Operation Shuja. The main objective was to thwart the operations of the ADF rebels in the DRC fighting under the banner of Islamic State.
Pre-1989 conflicts
Uganda gained independence from Britain in 1962. However, the new state did not enjoy the fruits of independence, but soon became trapped in a pattern of leadership manipulation of ethnic and religious differences. To some extent this was a product of colonial times, which had seen the diversity of the country’s people being used to divide and rule. When the country became independent the societal cleavages were deep and national unity absent.
Between 1962 and 1971, Milton Obote from the northern Langi ethnic group, ruled Uganda. During his reign the national armed forces were dominated by soldiers from this group as well as from fellow-northerners, the Acholi. In 1971 Obote was ousted in a coup led by his chief of the armed forces, Idi Amin. To consolidate his power, Amin changed the ethnic balance of the military, recruiting heavily from the West Nile region, his home area. The army ranks were filled with Nubians in general and Amin’s own Kakwa tribe in particular. Large numbers of Acholi and Langi soldiers were massacred presumed to be supporters of the deposed Obote.
While the country had seen an increasing resistance to Amin’s rule and an attempt had been made to topple him in a military coup in 1974, it was not until 1979 that he was finally ousted from power. After a failed army revolt in 1978, Amin had pursued mutinous troops across the border into Tanzania, prompting the neighboring state to join numerous Ugandan opposition movements in launching an intrastate conflict. In March the following year the anti-Amin Ugandan forces joined together and formed UNLA (Uganda National Liberation Army). A month later UNLA troops together with its Tanzanian supporters seized power in Kampala. In 1980, after some politically tumultuous months, an election was held that brought Obote back to power. However, some of the groups that had joined UNLA (National Resistance Movement) in 1979 did not accept the results of the elections. Notably Yuweri Museveni, from southern Uganda, and what would become the NRM left the political scene for guerrilla warfare and was soon joined by other groups.
Obote’s second period in power was mainly characterized by the conflict fought with the numerous rebel groups. The ethnic balance in the armed forces was yet again changed as UNLA's many Acholi and Langi were hastily enrolled with minimal training and little sense of discipline. Having borne the brunt of Amin's anti-Acholi massacres in previous years, Acholi soldiers took revenge on inhabitants of Amin's home region, whom they blamed for their losses. Furthermore, gross human rights abuses were committed north of Kampala, in the Luwero district, where Museveni’s NRM had a big following and thousands of civilians were killed.
In 1985, Obote was deposed once more, this time by a faction of the armed forces led by General Tito Okello. Okello ruled for six months until he was deposed by the NRM. Museveni became president and remained in power well into the 2000s.
However, his reign was not unchallenged. Fearing reprisals for the killings conducted in the Luwero region and elsewhere, remnants of Obote’s former army launched an intrastate conflict under the banner of UPDA (Uganda People’s Democratic Army). Eventually a number of other northern rebel groups emerged, of which the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) was the most long-lived. Museveni’s government also faced armed resistance in the east, in the west and in the north-west.
