Uganda

Airports

39 total, 30 usable; 5 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 3 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 10 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

4 major transport aircraft

Highways

26,200 km total; 1,970 km paved; 5,849 km crushed stone, gravel, and laterite; remainder earth roads and tracks

Inland waterways

Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, Lake Kyoga, Lake George, Lake Edward; Victoria Nile, Albert Nile; principal inland water ports are at Jinja and Port Bell, both on Lake Victoria

Merchant marine

1 roll-on/roll-off cargo (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,697 GRT

Railroads

1,300 km, 1.000-meter-gauge single track

Telecommunications

fair system with radio relay and radio communications stations; 61,600 telephones; stations--10 AM, no FM, 9 TV; satellite earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT

Branches

National Resistance Army (NRA)

Defense expenditures

1.4% of GDP (1985)

Military manpower

males 15-49, about 3,836,921; about 2,084,813 fit for military service

Agriculture

accounts for 57% of GDP and 83% of labor force; cash crops--coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco; food crops--cassava, potatoes, corn, millet, pulses; livestock products--beef, goat meat, milk, poultry; self-sufficient in food

Aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (1970-88), $123 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.0 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $60 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $140 million

Budget

revenues $365 million; expenditures $545 million, including capital expenditures of $165 million (FY89 est.)

Currency

Ugandan shilling (plural--shillings); 1 Ugandan shilling (USh) = 100 cents

Electricity

173,000 kW capacity; 312 million kWh produced, 18 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates

Ugandan shillings (USh) per US$1--370 (December 1989), 223.09 (1989), 106.14 (1988), 42.84 (1987), 14.00 (1986), 6.72 (1985)

Exports

$272 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--coffee 97%, cotton, tea; partners--US 25%, UK 18%, France 11%, Spain 10%

External debt

$1.4 billion (1989 est.)

Fiscal year

1 July-30 June

GDP

$4.9 billion, per capita $300 (1988); real growth rate 6.1% (1989 est.)

Imports

$626 million (c.i.f., 1988); commodities--petroleum products, machinery, cotton piece goods, metals, transportation equipment, food; partners--Kenya 25%, UK 14%, Italy 13%

Industrial production

growth rate 25.1% (1988)

Industries

sugar, brewing, tobacco, cotton textiles, cement

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

72% (FY89)

Overview

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. For most of the past 15 years the economy has been devastated by political instability, mismanagement, and civil war, keeping Uganda poor with a per capita income of about $300. (GDP remains below the levels of the early 1970s, as does industrial production.) Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee is the major export crop and accounted for 97% of export revenues in 1988. Since 1986 the government has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing petroleum prices, and improving civil service wages. The policy changes are especially aimed at dampening inflation, which was running at over 300% in 1987, and boosting production and export earnings.

Unemployment rate

NA%

Climate

tropical; generally rainy with two dry seasons (December to February, June to August); semiarid in northeast

Coastline

none--landlocked

Comparative area

slightly smaller than Oregon

Environment

straddles Equator; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion

Land boundaries

2,698 km total; Kenya 933 km, Rwanda 169 km, Sudan 435 km, Tanzania 396 km, Zaire 765 km

Land use

23% arable land; 9% permanent crops; 25% meadows and pastures; 30% forest and woodland; 13% other; includes NEGL% irrigated

Maritime claims

none--landlocked

Natural resources

copper, cobalt, limestone, salt

Note

landlocked

Terrain

mostly plateau with rim of mountains

Total area

236,040 km2; land area: 199,710 km2

Administrative divisions

10 provinces; Busoga, Central, Eastern, Karamoja, Nile, North Buganda, Northern, South Buganda, Southern, Western

Capital

Kampala

Communists

possibly a few sympathizers

Constitution

8 September 1967, suspended following coup of 27 July 1985; in process of constitutional revision

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Stephen Kapimpina KATENTA-APULI; 5909 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20011; telephone (202) 726-7100 through 7102; US--Ambassador John A. BURROUGHS, Jr.; Embassy at British High Commission Building, Obote Avenue, Kampala (mailing address is P. O. Box 7007, Kampala); telephone [256] (41) 259791

Executive branch

president, prime minister, three deputy prime ministers, Cabinet

Flag

six equal horizonal bands of black (top), yellow, red, black, yellow, and red; a white disk is superimposed at the center and depicts a red-crested crane (the national symbol) facing the staff side

Independence

9 October 1962 (from UK)

Judicial branch

Court of Appeal, High Court Chief of State--President Lt. Gen. Yoweri Kaguta MUSEVENI (since 29 January 1986); Head of Government--Prime Minister Samson Babi Mululu KISEKKA (since 30 January 1986); First Deputy Prime Minister Eriya KATEGAYA (since NA)

Legal system

government plans to restore system based on English common law and customary law and reinstitute a normal judicial system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Legislative branch

unicameral National Resistance Council

Long-form name

Republic of Uganda

Member of

ACP, AfDB, CCC, Commonwealth, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

National holiday

Independence Day, 9 October (1962)

Other political parties or pressure groups

Uganda People's Democratic Movement (UPDM), Uganda People's Front (UPF), Uganda Freedom Movement (UFM), Holy Spirit Movement (HSM)

Political parties and leaders

only party--National Resistance Movement (NRM); note--the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM), Ugandan People's Congress (UPC), Democratic Party (DP), and Conservative Party (CP) are all proscribed from conducting public political activities

Suffrage

universal at age 18 National Resistance Council--last held 11-28 February 1989 (next to be held after January 1995); results--NRM is the only party; seats--(278 total, 210 indirectly elected) NRM 210

Type

republic

Birth rate

52 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate

17 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Ethnic divisions

99% African, 1% European, Asian, Arab

Infant mortality rate

107 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Labor force

4,500,000 (est.); 94% subsistence activities, 6% wage earners (est.); 50% of population of working age (1983)

Language

English (official); Luganda and Swahili widely used; other Bantu and Nilotic languages

Life expectancy at birth

48 years male, 50 years female (1990)

Literacy

57.3%

Nationality

noun--Ugandan(s); adjective--Ugandan

Net migration rate

0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Organized labor

125,000 union members

Population

17,960,262 (July 1990), growth rate 3.5% (1990)

Religion

33% Roman Catholic, 33% Protestant, 16% Muslim, rest indigenous beliefs

Total fertility rate

7.4 children born/woman (1990)