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The colonial boundaries created by Britain to delimit Uganda grouped together a wide range of ethnic groups with different political systems and cultures. These differences prevented the establishment of a working political community after independence was achieved in 1962. The dictatorial regime of Idi AMIN (1971-79) was responsible for the deaths of some 300,000 opponents; guerrilla war and human rights abuses under Milton OBOTE (1980-85) claimed at least another 100,000 lives. The rule of Yoweri MUSEVENI since 1986 has brought relative stability and economic growth to Uganda. During the 1990s, the government promulgated non-party presidential and legislative elections.

The Lord's Resistance Army, a messianic rebel group, pushed a new dimension of violence by building an army of abducted children and forcing them to burn down huts, slice off lips and pound newborn babies to death in wooden mortars, as though they were grinding grain.

"I killed and killed and killed," said Christopher Oyet, an 18-year-old former rebel who was kidnapped at age 9. "Now, I am scared of myself."

But, for the first time in 20 years, the killing has stopped. The rebel leaders, boxed in and with dwindling support, signed a cease-fire agreement on Aug. 26. Whether it lasts depends on whether Joseph Kony, the phantom rebel commander who is said to live deep in the jungle with 60 child brides and his top deputies are given amnesty.

That is uncertain, because they have been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Still, this is the furthest any peace deal has come, fueling hopes that one of Africa's most grotesque and bizarre wars, which cost tens of thousands of lives, may finally be over.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said on Sept 29^th, that it had suspended more than $150 million in grants to Uganda because of serious mismanagement. Officials of the agency, they had taken the action to warn Uganda and other countries that they needed to manage the fund's grants properly.