* 1,500 mm /60 inches annual rainfall on the shores of Lake Victoria and in the Ruwenzori Mountains.

* North eastern areas less than 1,000 mm/ 40 inches annual rainfall.

* Average daytime temperatures 24 to 28 Celsius 75 to 82 Fahrenheit.

* Currency:
Ugandan Shilling.

* Credit Cards:
Visa, Mastercard, Access, American Express are accepted in good hotels, restaurants and also in some stores in the capital.

* Banking Hours:
0830 to 1400 Monday to Friday.

* Currency Restrictions: None.

* Agriculture: The major occupation is agriculture: coffee, tobacco, sugar, tea, maize, millet, yams, sorghum,, groundnuts, livestock, fishing.

* Mining: Tungsten, copper, phosphate, tin, limestone, beryl.

* Manufacturing: Textiles, fertilizers, food processing, brewing, plywood.

* Other: Tourism is growing once more after years of neglect.

* Official name: Republic of Uganda.

* Population: 19.8 million (1991 estimate).

* Situation: East Africa.

* Timezone: GMT + 3.

* Area: 238,461 square kilometres /92,046 square miles.

* Borders with: Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zaire.

* Coasts: None.

* Capital: Kampala.

* Major Towns: Jinja, Mbale, Tororo, Soroti.

* Chief Port: None. Served through Mombasa, Kenya.

* Religion: Christianity 66%, animism and Muslim.

* Rest Day: Sunday.

* Electricity: 240 Volts AC, 50 Hz.

* Physical: The western Rift Valley runs along the Zaire border. The Ruwenzori Mountains (Mountains of the Moon) rise in the west to peak at Margherita (5,110 meters / 16,765 feet). Lake Victoria borders the south and east of Uganda and there are also many other lakes including Lakes Albert, Edward, Kwania, Cyoga and Bisina. The Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile are the main rivers.

* Some indigenous kingdoms emerged from the 14th century onwards, among them being: Buganda, Bunyoro, Toro, Ankole and Busoga, Bunyoro was initially the most powerful.

* It wasn't until the 19th century that outsiders entered the country, and until that time there were no trading links with the coast.

* Connections were made with Arab traders from the coast, and European explorers in the mid 19th century. This was during the reign of Kabaka Mwanga, following these contacts came Christian missionaries, who were very unpopular with the rulers of Buganda and Toro, and there were massacres of the Christian followers and those of Islam.

* In 1894, as a result of the treaty of Berlin in 1890 which defined many European countries' sphere of influence in Africa, a British protectorate was declared in Uganda and was also placed on Kenya, Zanzibar and Pemba. The traditional kingdoms were given a great degree of local autonomy.

* Uganda never really suffered a great influx of European settlers, instead the existing tribes were encouraged to grow cash crops for export through their own co-operative organisations, as a consequence of this nationalist organisations were late on the scene and kept very exclusive; so exclusive that when independence was being discussed Baganda considered secession.

* Dr Milton Obote a Lango school teacher, succeeded in creating a coalition in the 1950's, that led to Uganda's independence in 1962, this was on the condition that Baganda would have autonomy. Kabaka, the king of Baganda was the new nation's president, and Milton Obote was its prime minister.

* This was a difficult time for Uganda because refugees were flooding in from Sudan, Zaire and Rwanda due to their civil wars. It was also not an easy time because it became clear that Obote was not going to share his power with the Kabaka and so a confrontation was inevitable.

* Obote moved fast, arrested many cabinet ministers and commanded his army chief of staff, Idi Amin, to attack the Kabaka's palace. The consequence of this was the exile of the Kabaka to London where, in 1965 he died.

* Obote declared himself president, and he abolished the Baganda monarchy.

* Obote had his attorney general Godfrey Binaisa rewrite the constitution, to consolidate virtually all powers in the presidency, he nationalised foreign assets.

* In 1969 US$5 million in funds and weapons given to the Ministry of Defence could not be accounted for. An explanation was demanded from Idi Amin, but he wasn't forthcoming and so his deputy and some junior officers demanded his resignation, the deputy being Colonel Okoya. He was found with his wife in their home shot dead shortly afterwards.

* Amin staged a coup in January 1969, when Obote was in Singapore attending a conference. Obote was exiled to Tanzania.

* All political activities were quickly suspended and the army were ordered to shoot anyone who was suspected of opposing the new regime.

* In 1972 the Asian community were given 90 days to leave the country, and Amin squandered the money left by the Asians on new toys for the army, he nationalised all British owned companies, as a consequence of all these actions the country was bound for bankruptcy. Hospitals and health clinics were closed; roads and railways fell into disrepair, and city utilities ceased to function. All wildlife was machine gunned down for meat, ivory and skins and the inflation rate hit 1000%.

* As a result of this chaos, Amin, was forced to give more power to the provincial governors.

* Libya was Uganda's only supporter, bailing out the Ugandan economy.

* Amin manufactured a war with Tanzania to create a diversion from his economic and political woes. His stated reason for making war with Tanzania was that they supported anti Amin dissidents.

* On the 30th of October 1978, the Ugandan army invaded Tanzania and annexed more than 1200 square km of territory. A counter attack was ordered, but it took months to mobilise the army and so it was not until later in the year the two armies met. The Tanzanian army comprised of illiterate youths from the bush and exiled Ugandan liberation groups. The Ugandan troops threw down their weapons and fled, and so the Tanzanians proceeded to push into the heart of Uganda. Amin fled to Libya.

* The Tanzanian action was criticised, somewhat half-heartedly by the OAU, and Tanzania was forced to foot the bill for the war. Tanzanian troops stayed in the country, supposedly to keep the peace, but they instead hijacked trucks, slaughtered wildlife and took what they wanted from shops by holding the shop owners to gunpoint.

* The country slid into chaos once again, the food supplies ran out, and exiled Ugandans began returning home.

* Usefu Lule was put into the presidency by the Tanzanian president Nyerere, but once on power he began to adopt policies which Nyerere disapproved of and so he was replaced by Godfrey Binaisa during pro Lule riots in Kampala.

* He set a date for the general elections, but found himself at odds with powerful members of the provincial government on idealistic, constitutional and personal grounds.

* There was a feared coup from Tito Okello and David Ojok who were senior members of the army and supporters of Obote. As a consequence of this Binaisa attempted to dismiss Ojok, but he refused to step down and placed Binaisa under house arrest. The government was taken over by a military commission.

* Obote returned from exile to a enthusiastic welcome from the people of Uganda.

* General elections were held shortly after, with Obote winning outright. This was possibly due to the fact that the elections were blatantly rigged .

* Binaisa returned to exile in the USA.

* Obote replaced civil servants, army and police commanders with his own supporters. The State Research Bureau, a euphemism for the secret police, was re-established and he continued with the destruction of Uganda started by Amin. He muzzled the press and expelled foreign journalists. He searched for absolute power.

* Obote was overthrown in mid 1985 by an army coup under the leadership of Okello.

* During Obote's period in power a guerilla army was formed which opposed him. It was led by Yoweri Museveni, he had served as a defense minister from 1979 to 1980. The guerilla army was known as the National Resistance Army and by the time Okello came into power the NRA controlled a large part of western Uganda. Okello attempted to form a truce based around the sharing of power, but this failed.

* Fighting continued and by January 1986 it was obvious that Okello's days were numbered.

* In February the NRA launched an all out offensive to take the capital, Okello's troops ran without a fight and they were pushed over the border into Sudan, and Museveni took over power, he is attempting to clean to clean up the country.

* Official: English.

* Other: Luganda, Swahili.

* Tribes: The main ethnic group is the Ganda. Many other tribes including Lango, Acholi, Teso, Karamojong, Maasai.

* Countries whose nationals do not require a visa include:
+ All European Union countries.
+ Nationals of all PTA (Preferential Trade Area) countries.
Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Burundi, Canada, Comoros, Denmark, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Gambia, Greece, Grenada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, UK (being a citizen of the United Kingdom & Colonies), United Arab Emirates, USA, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

* Countries whose nationals do require a visa include:
+ All not mentioned above.

* Visas are issued at Ugandan Embassies and High Commissions.

VISA SERVICES

* Advice, information and full visa service from :

* Action Visas
for worldwide visa service, central London based:
phone # 0171 388 4498
fax # 0171 916 0671
from foreign contries:
phone # 44 171 388 4498
fax # 44 171 916 0671