Re-examining Uganda’s 1966 crisis: The Uganda People’s Congress and the Congo rebellion

Historians of Uganda have generally viewed the 1966 Crisis in Uganda as an inevitable clash between two opposing forces, the Uganda People's Congress national government and the government of the Kingdom of Buganda, trying to settle colonial-era rivalries in the post-independence era. As such, these authors focus solely on internal causes for the 1966 Crisis and fail to consider the impact of Uganda’s regional and international relations on politics within the country. This thesis argues that the 1966 Crisis can only be understood in the context of Uganda’s new and complex international relations after independence, particularly the consequences of the UPC’s intervention in the Congo Rebellion from 1964 to 1965. It will consider how the government of Uganda’s participation in the Congo Rebellion was aided by Uganda’s new relations with the outside world, and how this intervention in turn destabilized politics within Uganda and prompted Obote’s coup d’état on 15 April 1966.