15 Oct | Diana Peel | No Comments
The Aboke Girls
The Aboke girls are the 139 secondary school students who were abducted from the dormitories of St Mary’s College in Aboke, Uganda on the night of 10th October 1996 by the Lord’s Resistance Army. The abductions brought the LRA’s abuses of children to the attention of the world. The Pope, Nelson Mandela and Oprah Winfrey …
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30 Jul | Diana Peel | No Comments
Uganda’s Jewish Community
At the foothill of Mount Elgon resides the Abayudaya, Uganda’s Jewish community, who have existed for 99 years. They number approximately 2,000, and are led by the Member of Parliament for Bungokho North, Rabbi Gershom Sizomu – the first native born black rabbi in Sub-Saharan Africa. The community is largely based at Nabugoye hill, just …
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21 May | Diana Peel | No Comments
Uganda’s Muslim Martyrs
When one thinks of martyrs and Namugongo, you would be forgiven for thinking soley of the Christian martyrs, burnt to death for their faith in 1886, on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga. But the Christians were not the first people to die for their faith at Namugongo (although they would be the last). Ten years …
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30 Apr | Diana Peel | No Comments
The Origins of Tooro
The kingdom of Tooro is in western Uganda, and is one of the five traditional kingdoms. Its seat is in Fort Portal, where the royal palace is built, and where the last three kings are buried. Toro was part of the Bunyoro Kitara empire until 1826, when the heir to the Bunyoro throne broke away …
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3 Apr | Diana Peel | No Comments
Christianity Comes to Uganda
Christianity is now the dominant religion in Uganda, with around 85% of the population adhering to the faith. But Christianity is a rather recent import. The different tribes in what is now Uganda worshipped various pagan deities and ancestral spirits. They were not exposed to monotheistic religions until the Arabs traders came, followed a few …
READ MORE5 Aug | Diana Peel | 2 Comments
Idi Amin’s Expulsion of Asians
On 4th August 1972, the President of Uganda, Idi Amin, announced that Asians in Uganda had ninety days to leave the country. Amin stated that God had ordered him to do this in a dream. The expulsion order forced 50,000 Asians to leave Uganda; 20,000 of those were Ugandan passport holders. The rest were British …
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4 Jul | Diana Peel | No Comments
The International Criminal Court
On 1st July 2002, the first permanent court designed to try perpetrators of the most serious international crimes – namely, genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. these crimes are considered so heinous that humanity as a whole is a victim, and they tend not to be punishable under domestic criminal …
READ MORE20 Jun | Diana Peel | No Comments
Remembering the Obalanga Massacre
The massacre at Obalanga on 15th June 2003 marked the beginning of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) invasion into the Teso sub region of Uganda. The rebels attacked the trading centre, where they killed 300 people and forced the rest of the civilian population to flee. The Teso sub-region is in Eastern Uganda, and …
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13 Jun | Diana Peel | No Comments
Martyrs’ Day in Uganda
On 3rd June, Uganda celebrates Martyrs’ Day. It is a public holidays, which commemorates the 22 Catholics and 23 Protestants who were killed for refusing to renounce their faith between 1885 and 1887. 3rd June is significant because it is the date in 1886 where the largest mass execution took place, at Namugongo, where 26 …
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