There are two groups of Arabs in Uganda, descendants of those that came as slavers during the 19th century and the modern immigrants from war-torn Lebanon, Palestine and Libya. Nationals from the last two places came during Idi Amin's regime, to Islamatize the population. [
ENDNOTES:
George T. Kurian, Encyclopedia of the Third World, Vol.II, (New York: Facts On File, 1978), p.1485.] According to Kurian (1987), the Arab population in Uganda has remained at approximately 3,000, [ibid. p.1485.] with Muslims making up 5% of the whole Ugandan population. [ Ibid.]

During Idi Amin's time, the Ugandan Muslim Supreme Council, funded by Libya, oversaw Islamic activities of Muslim Africans and Arabs. [ibid. p.1485.] Muslims enjoyed preferential treatment during Idi Amin's regime, when most of the cabinet and the military were in the hands of Muslims. [ibid. 1987, p.2050.]

According to an official of the Ugandan High Commission in Ottawa, several hundred Arabs including some Palestinians were invited into Uganda by Idi Amin around 1972. [ As stated by an official at the Ugandan High Commission in Ottawa during a telephone interview with the IRBDC on 8 June 1990.] The source states that many left Uganda between 1978 and 1979, bringing their numbers down to approximately one hundred today. [ Ibid.] The majority of these Arabs are citizens of other countries and operate businesses in Uganda on renewable residence permits.

The Ugandan official reports that there are also some Ugandans of Arab origin. Between 1820 and 1830 Arab traders came to the eastern coast of Africa and intermarried with the coastal Swahili-speaking Africans in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. [ Ibid.]

There was a reported incident in early 1987 where Muslim and Christian groups clashed at Masaka, resulting in the death of several Muslims. [ Colin Legum, African Contemporary Records Annual Survey and Documents 1986-87, London: Africana Publishing Company, 1987, pp. B477-B478. Attached.] The same report states that "the chronic conflicts in the Muslim community continued in 1986-87" For more information, please consult the attachments.

The IRBDC in unable to corroborate the information supplied by these oral sources with its publicly available documents at the present time.
Attached please find excerpts from the following documents:

"Uganda And They Survive", Africa Events, London: Dar es Salaam Ltd., May 1989.

"Uganda Flip and Re-Flip the Coin", Africa Events, London: Dar es Salaam Ltd., February 1988.
"Zanzibar Whither the Revolution?", Africa Events, London: Dar es Salaam Ltd., March-April 1988.
Colin Legum, ed., Africa Contemporary Record Annual Survey and Documents 1986-87, New York: Africana Publishing Company, 1988, pp. A160-A169.
Africa South of the Sahara 1990, London: Europa Publications Ltd., 1990, pp. 217-218.