Curriculum · Contact & Upheaval · 24 min

Kabalega and the War of Resistance

Reform, guerrilla warfare and exile: how Omukama Kabalega of Bunyoro fought the British for nearly three decades.

Draft lesson: historical review pending.

Kabalega (c. 1853–1923) ruled Bunyoro-Kitara from 1870 until his capture in 1899. He came to power after a civil war against his brother Kabigumire, with support drawn largely from the army and commoners rather than the great chiefly families. That base shaped his reign: he built up the Abarusura, a standing army of regiments, and tried to reduce the autonomy of hereditary chiefs. His project was to reverse Bunyoro's long decline and restore the kingdom's influence in the western Great Lakes.

Bunyoro had been losing ground to Buganda for generations. The loss of Toro around 1830, succession disputes and the rise of Buganda's army had weakened the old Kitara state. Kabalega's reforms were a response. He recruited soldiers directly, settled them on royal estates, equipped them with firearms acquired through trade, and used them to discipline chiefs and raid neighbours. The Abarusura were not a small bodyguard: they were the core of a revived monarchy.

The first open clash with Europe came in 1872, when Samuel Baker's expedition from the Sudan entered Bunyoro. Baker was working for the Egyptian government, which claimed Equatoria, and his forces behaved like an occupying army. Kabalega's troops attacked Baker's camp at Masindi; Baker retreated north to Fort Patiko in Acholi. The episode is often treated as the start of Kabalega's resistance, though the larger colonial war began two decades later.

In 1891 Frederick Lugard invaded Bunyoro and reinstated Kasagama as Omukama of Toro. In 1893 a larger British-led force under Colvile advanced into Bunyoro. Kabalega avoided a decisive battle, abandoned his capital at Mparo and dispersed his forces. The British captured the royal capital but not the king. For the next six years Kabalega waged a guerrilla campaign across northern Bunyoro and Acholi, using his knowledge of the terrain, mobility and the support of local communities. In 1897 Kabaka Mwanga II of Buganda escaped from his British allies and joined him, turning the war into a wider regional resistance.

The end came in 1899. British forces, guided by local informers and led by Lieutenant Evatt, surprised Kabalega at Kangai in Dokolo. He was shot in both arms and captured; his right arm was amputated. Mwanga was captured soon afterwards. Both men were exiled to the Seychelles, where Kabalega remained for more than twenty years. He was allowed to return in 1923 but died at Mpumwire Hill near Jinja before reaching Bunyoro.

The war devastated Bunyoro. British and Baganda forces burned villages, seized cattle and grain, and broke the back of the kingdom's economy. The 1900 settlement took territory from Bunyoro and gave it to Buganda; the 'lost counties' of Buyaga and Bugangaizi became a grievance that festered until a 1964 referendum returned them. Colonial accounts portrayed Kabalega as a savage tyrant; later historians, including Kiwanuka, presented him as a ruler who tried to reform a declining state and resist conquest. Both pictures are too simple.

Kiwanuka's reappraisal argues that Bunyoro was already in slow decline before the British arrived, and that Kabalega's chances of restoring it were limited. He also insists that British prestige required the destruction of any resistance, so the idea that Kabalega could have negotiated a safe accommodation is unrealistic. The war was not a clash of equal states: it was a colonial conquest fought with African allies, scorched-earth tactics and overwhelming logistics. Kabalega's importance lies less in victory than in the length and scale of the resistance he organised.

Glossary

Abarusura

Kabalega's standing army of regiments, used to discipline chiefs, raid neighbours and resist colonial invasion.

Omukama

The royal title of the rulers of Bunyoro-Kitara.

Mparo

Kabalega's capital, abandoned when the British invaded Bunyoro in 1893.

Lost Counties

The Bunyoro counties of Buyaga and Bugangaizi, transferred to Buganda in the colonial period and returned after a 1964 referendum.

Guerrilla warfare

A form of irregular warfare using mobility, local knowledge and dispersed forces rather than a decisive battle.

Quiz

Question 1 of 5