Bundibugyo District is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the Western Region of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, bordering the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(DRC). The town of

Bundibugyo Bundibugyo is a town in the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. It is the 'chief town' of Bundibugyo District and the district headquarters are located there. Location Bundibugyo is located approximately , by road, west of For ...

is where both the district headquarters and the Bwamba Kingdom seat ( Obudhingiya Bwa Bwamba) are located. Before July 2010, the districts of Ntoroko and

were one. These districts are the only two in Uganda that lie west of the Rwenzori mountains. Bundibugyo (With Ntoroko) was first named Semuliki district on separating it from the Greator Kabarole district alongside Rwenzori district (Kasese) in 1974.

Location

Via Karugutu Bundibugyo District is bordered by

Ntoroko District Ntoroko District is a Districts of Uganda, district in the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. The district headquarters are in the Kibbuuku town council. It is the second least populated district in Uganda. Location Ntoroko Distric ...

to the northeast,

Kabarole District Kabarole District is a Districts of Uganda, district in Western Region, Uganda, Western Uganda. Kabarole District is part of the Tooro Kingdom. Its main town was Fort Portal before 1 July 2020 when it was elevated to a city, separating it from Ka ...

to the east, Bunyangabu District to the southeast, Kasese District to the south and the D.R.C to the west and north. The district headquarters at Bundibugyo are located approximately , by road, west of

Fort Portal Fort Portal formerly Kabarole () is a city located in the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. It is the seat of both Kabarole District and historically of the Tooro Kingdom. Etymology Fort Portal was named after British Diplomac ...

city the capital of Rwenzori Sub-region. This is about , north of Kasese town but no motorable roads link Kasese and Bundibugyo districts because of the over 4 km high

Rwenzori Mountains The Rwenzori (also known as the Ruwenzori, Rwenzururu or Rwenjura) are a range of mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The highest peak of the Ruwenzori reaches ...

. Travellers between the two districts must go around the mountains via Bunyangabu, Kabarole, and Ntoroko districts, an approximate diastance of . Or via the D.R.C if they don't fly or walk over the Mountains.

Overview

In the late 1990s, tens of thousands of civilians were displaced by the insurgency of the

Allied Democratic Forces The Allied Democratic Forces (; abbreviated ADF) is a Ugandan Islamist rebel group based in western Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is considered a terrorist organisation by the Ugandan government and the United States. ...

(ADF) who were operating in the district. In one such raid on 7 April 1999, rebels killed 11 civilians and looted property during an attack in the district. In a separate attack in the same month, the member of parliament for Bunyangabu county was shot and wounded in an attack in neighboring Kabarole District by ADF insurgents.

Population

The 1991 national population census estimated the district population at 92,300. During the 2002 national census, the population of was put at about 158,900. The annual population growth rate in the district was estimated at 5.2 percent. In 2012, the population of the district was estimated at 261,700.

Economic activities

Subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry are the two major economic activities in the district. It is the largest producer of cocoa in Uganda, accounting for unprocessed beans worth UGX:90 billion annually.

References

External links