Uganda after Live Aid

Since the late 1980s Uganda has rebounded from the abyss of civil war and economic catastrophe to become relatively peaceful, stable and prosperous. Uganda was notorious for its human rights abuses, with the rampage of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) abducting and killing tens of thousands of people, as well as displacing more than 1.5 million. More recently, Uganda has won praise for its vigorous campaign against HIV/AIDS. This has helped to reduce the prevalence of the virus, which reached affected a drastically high proportion of the population in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Time Line

• 1963 Uganda becomes a republic with Buganda's King Mutesa as president.

• 1971 The first prime minister of Uganda, Milton Obote, falls in a military coup led by Army Chief, Idi Amin.

• 1972 Amin orders 60,000 Asians to leave Uganda.

• 1979 Yusufu Lule installed as president, but is quickly replaced by Godfrey Binaisa.

• 1980 The army deposes President Binaisa and organises elections which are won by Milton Obote.

• 1985 Milton Obote, the Uganda president who had been toppled by Idi Amin in 1971, but had regained the presidency in 1980 was toppled in from power again by Tito Okello in a bloodless Uganda coup.

• 1986 Rebels seize power and install Yoweri Museveni as president.

• 1987 The Uganda government roll out the ABC (Abstain, Be faithful or use a Condom) campaign designed to tackle the HIV/ AIDS epidemic.

  

  Children at the SOS Primary School Kakiri Uganda

  
  

• 1989 SOS Children sets up a Children's Village to provide family-based care in Kakiri, Kampale. The village includes an SOS Medical Centre which includes a HIV / AIDS Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Centre.
  

• 1996 President Museveni is confirmed by election in Uganda's first direct presidential election.

• 2002 Army evacuates more than 400,000 civilians caught up in fight against cult-like LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) which continues its brutal attacks on villages. SOS Children starts an Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu which aims to help those children affected by the violence of the LRA.
  

• 2003 SOS Children opens a second Children's Village in Entebbe which includes a Nursery and an SOS Social Centre.
  

• 2007 State of emergency imposed after severe floods cause widespread devastation. The UN World Food Programme says it will have to halve food handouts to more than 1 million people displaced by war in the north.

  

  Mother, child and doctor at the SOS Medical Centre Gulu Uganda

• 2009 SOS Children's Village Gulu is opened. An SOS Medical Centre is also opened to serve the local clommunity and those affected by HIV/ AIDS. SOS Children begins a Family Strengthening Programme in Fort Portal.

  

  Girl carrying child, SOS Children's Village Fort Portal, Uganda

  
  

• 2010 Several explosions in Kampala leaves scores dead while they watched the World cup finals. Tens of thousands of refugees cross into Uganda, fleeing fighting in DR Congo. The maternal death rate is recorded as being 310 deaths per 100,000 live births, 36th in the world. 72% of the population now have access to improved drinking water sources. SOS Children's Village Fort Portal opens.
  

• 2012 The growth rate is 4.4% - the lowest it has been for more than a decade.