Thursday 9 October 2014

Today in History October 09. Focus on Uganda





October 9 is the 282nd day of the year. There are 83 days remaining until the end of the year.





Today's Highlight in History 1962 – Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.





Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the southwest by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. Uganda is the world's second most populous landlocked country after Ethiopia. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally equatorial climate.

Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala. The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country.

The official language is English. Luganda, a central language, is widely spoken across the country, and multiple other languages are also spoken including Runyoro, Runyankole Rukiga, Langi and many others.

In 1966, following a power struggle between the Obote-led government and King Muteesa, the UPC-dominated Parliament changed the constitution and removed the ceremonial president and vice-president. In 1967, a new constitution proclaimed Uganda a republic and abolished the traditional kingdoms. Without first calling elections, Obote was declared the executive President.
Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda


After a military coup in 1971, Obote was deposed from power and the dictator Idi Amin seized control of the country. Amin ruled Uganda with the military for eight years and carried out mass killings within the country to maintain his rule. An estimated 300,000 Ugandans lost their lives at the hands of his regime, many of them in the north, which he associated with Obote's loyalists. Aside from his brutalities, he forcibly removed the entrepreneurial Indian minority from Uganda, which left the country's economy in ruins. Amin's atrocities were graphically accounted in the 1977 book, A State of Blood, written by one of his former ministers after he fled the country.

The current President of Uganda is Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who came to power in a coup in 1986. The President is both head of state and head of government. The President appoints a Vice-President, currently Edward Ssekandi, and a prime minister, currently Ruhakana Rugunda, who aid him in governing. The parliament is formed by the National Assembly, which has 332 members. 104 of these members are nominated by interest groups, including women and the army. The remaining members are elected for five-year terms during general elections.
-Wikipedia




World Events


1824 – Slavery is abolished in Costa Rica.
1831 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent Greece is assassinated.
1834 – Opening of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first public railway on the island of Ireland.
1845 – The eminent and controversial Anglican, John Henry Newman, is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
1854 – Crimean War: The siege of Sebastopol begins.
1873 – A meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute.
1874 – General Postal Union is created as a result of the Treaty of Berne.
1888 – The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
1913 – The steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic.
1914 – World War I: Siege of Antwerp: Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
1919 – Black Sox Scandal: The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series.
1934 – Regicide at Marseille: The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France.
1936 – Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles.
1941 – A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president.
1942 – Statute of Westminster 1931 formalises Australian autonomy.
1962 – Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.
1963 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
1969 – In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the "Chicago Eight" that began on September 24.
1970 – The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
1980 – Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
1981 – Abolition of capital punishment in France.
1983 – Rangoon bombing: Attempted assassination of South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during an official visit to Rangoon, Burma. Chun survives but the blast kills 17 of his entourage, including four cabinet ministers, and injures 17 others. Four Burmese officials also die in the blast.
1986 – The musical The Phantom of the Opera receives its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.
1989 – An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
1991 – Ecuador becomes a member of the Berne Convention.
2003 – Mission: Space opens to the public in the Epcot park at Walt Disney World. The opening ceremony included several astronauts from all eras of space exploration.
2006 – North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device.
2012 – Members of the Pakistani Taliban made a failed attempt to assassinate Malala Yousafzai on her way home from school.

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