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Uganda NATIONAL SECURITY ENVIRONMENT
Establishing peace and security in Uganda has eluded
every
government since independence, as each one struggled to
create a
unified state out of a collection of ethnic groups
(see Internal Security Services
, this ch.). In 1990 insurgents remained
active
in northern, eastern, and western Uganda. The government's
dual
policy of military pacification and offers of
unconditional
amnesty to recalcitrant rebels failed to end the fighting.
Most
of the south achieved peace during Museveni's first three
years
in power, but the government still had to divert scarce
national
resources to end regional conflicts that kept Uganda weak
and
divided.
Except for its ties to Tanzania, Uganda's relations
with
other East African states have deteriorated since Museveni
came
to power
(see External Security Concerns
, this ch.).
Ugandan and
Zairian troops clashed on their common border several
times
during the 1980s. Relations between the NRA and Sudan,
which was
experiencing its own civil war, also have been strained,
primarily because of Sudanese accusations that Museveni
allowed
weapons to transit Uganda en route to Sudanese rebels and
because
each country harbored the other's insurgents and refugees.
The
Rwandan government has claimed that Uganda allowed Rwandan
refugees living in Uganda to form an insurgent group and,
with
Kampala's help, to launch military operations in Rwanda to
overthrow the Habyarimana government. Kenya's President
Daniel T.
arap Moi protested several times that Uganda was
sabotaging the
relationship between the two countries by launching
attacks on
border villages and providing assistance to Kenyan
dissidents.
These regional strains contributed to instability and
drained the
nation's resources and energy but were nonetheless
overshadowed
by the domestic turbulence that plagued Uganda in the
post-Amin
years.
Data as of December 1990
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