The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N 32°17'57.0"E.[4] The city's distance from Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city, is 333 kilometres (207 mi) by road.[5] Gulu is served by Gulu Airport.
History
During the British Bagool rule in the 18th and 19th centuries, northern Uganda was less developed compared to the rest of the country. The people were conscripted into the army and the police,[6] with many sent to fight in the first and second World Wars.[7]
In the 1960s, many Sudanese, Rwandese, and Congolese refugees settled in the city.[8]
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) under the leadership of Joseph Kony sprang up in the 1990s after Auma/Lakwena went to Kenya. The LRA became increasingly violent in Gulu and surrounding communities.[9] Up to 15,000 children, known as "night commuters", were fleeing into the city for safety every evening.[10] In 1996, the Ugandan government ordered all civilians in northern Uganda to relocate to internally displaced person (IDP) camps. Several organizations, such as Stop the Genocide in Northern Uganda, called these camps "concentration camps" and demanded their immediate closure. At one time, an estimated two million people lived in these camps. In April 2009, all the IDP camps were closed and the people were allowed to return to their villages.[11] By July 2009, an estimated 1,452,000 people (80.7 percent of those living in the camps) had voluntarily left the camps to return home.[12][13][14] Since the spring of 2007, there has been relative peace in the region as the LRA became a much less significant threat.[citation needed]
The national census in 2002 estimated Gulu's population at 119,430. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) estimated the population at 149,900 in 2010. In 2011, UBOS estimated the mid-year population at 154,300.[16] The 2014 population census put the population at 152,276.[1]
In 2020, the mid-year population of Gulu City was projected by city division as follows: Bar Dege (47,700), Laroo (32,300), Layibi (43,900) and Pece (53,500), for a total of 177,400.[17]
This is an all metal made peace monument established in 2009 by the Dutch Embassy at the Gulu District Local Government headquarters, it depicts two children (a female and male) reading a book on top of 20 piles of books, monument was established in honor of the end of the 20 years war of the Lord's Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony
There is also a center for non-medical integrative therapies, Thrive-Gulu, founded by Boston-based professor Judy Dushku and her husband Jim Coleman, and part-funded by Eliza Dushku. It has received funding support from Irish aid agency Trocaire and a Scandinavian foreign aid provider.[20]
Transport
Air
The city is served by Gulu Airport, which has a tarmac runway that measures 10,314 feet (3,144 m). Gulu Airport is the second biggest airport in Uganda after Entebbe International Airport.[21]
Rail
Gulu has a station on the metre gauge railway that connects Tororo and Pakwach, which had been out of service since 1993. Rift Valley Railways funded the clearing of vegetation and the repair of infrastructure, thus allowing the first commercial train for 20 years to run through Gulu on 14 September 2013.[22]
Sport
The home venue for Gulu United FC is Pece War Memorial Stadium, which has a capacity of 3,000 people.[23] The stadium was built by the British in 1959, with long-delayed renovations starting in April 2017.[24]
With loans obtained from the World Bank and KfW, the government of Uganda in 2020, completed Phase I of the Gulu Water Supply and Sanitation Project. The project required USh82.3 billion (US$22+ million) to be implemented. With the improvements, Gulu City has storage capacity of 42,000,000 cubic metres (1.1×1010 US gal) of potable water. In addition, at least 42 public toilets have been built, capable of accommodating 250 people simultaneously. A new sewage sludge treatment plant in Cubu has been constructed.[27]
Phase II of the project involves establishment of a drinking water intake plant, upstream of Karuma Hydroelectric Power Station, with pumping capacity of 10,000 cubic metres (2,600,000 US gal) daily. This new potable water source will supply 341,000 people in Gulu and neighboring communities. It also includes the expansion of safe sanitation services to 170,000 new customers. KfW and the CDC Group are expected to fund the second stage, starting in June 2021.[27]
Pen-Mogi Nyeko, veterinarian, academic and statesman. Former Vice Chancellor of Gulu University 2002–2018.
Betty Aol Ocan, Politician, Former Leader of Opposition in the 10th Parliament of Uganda.
Norbert Mao, President Democratic Party, Former Member of Parliament Gulu Municipality, Former LC5 Gulu District, The Current Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the Museveni's NRM Government.
^"Biografski dodaci" [Biographic appendices]. Republika: Časopis za kulturu i društvena pitanja (Izbor iz novije afričke književnosti) (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb, SR Croatia. XXXIV (12): 1424–1427. December 1978.
