Establishing peace and security in Uganda has eluded every government since independence, as each one struggled to create a unified state out of a collection of ethnic groups (see Internal Security Services , this ch.). In 1990 insurgents remained active in northern, eastern, and western Uganda. The government's dual policy of military pacification and offers of unconditional amnesty to recalcitrant rebels failed to end the fighting. Most of the south achieved peace during Museveni's first three years in power, but the government still had to divert scarce national resources to end regional conflicts that kept Uganda weak and divided.
Except for its ties to Tanzania, Uganda's relations with other East African states have deteriorated since Museveni came to power (see External Security Concerns , this ch.). Ugandan and Zairian troops clashed on their common border several times during the 1980s. Relations between the NRA and Sudan, which was experiencing its own civil war, also have been strained, primarily because of Sudanese accusations that Museveni allowed weapons to transit Uganda en route to Sudanese rebels and because each country harbored the other's insurgents and refugees. The Rwandan government has claimed that Uganda allowed Rwandan refugees living in Uganda to form an insurgent group and, with Kampala's help, to launch military operations in Rwanda to overthrow the Habyarimana government. Kenya's President Daniel T. arap Moi protested several times that Uganda was sabotaging the relationship between the two countries by launching attacks on border villages and providing assistance to Kenyan dissidents. These regional strains contributed to instability and drained the nation's resources and energy but were nonetheless overshadowed by the domestic turbulence that plagued Uganda in the post-Amin years.
Data as of December 1990