From Kingdoms to Protectorate to New Nation

To set the background for the civil war in northern Uganda and the interfaith organization that was created to work for its resolution, the present chapter reviews the history of the region. Beginning with indigenous populations organized into kingdoms and ethnic communities, the slave trade that linked East Africa with the Middle East, and the competition among European powers for regional control, the chapter traces the transition from British protectorate to independent nation and the tumultuous period that followed, under the repressive regimes of Milton Obote and Idi Amin.