Tororo is a town in the Eastern Region of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country 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 south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of

Tororo District Tororo District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Tororo hosts the district headquarters. Location Tororo District is bordered by Mbale District to the north, Manafwa District to the north-east, Kenya to the east, Bus ...

History

Tororo was garrisoned by the Uganda Army's Air and Sea Battalion during the

Uganda–Tanzania War The Uganda–Tanzania War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War (Kiswahili: ''Vita vya Kagera'') and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979 and led to the overthrow of Ugan ...

(1978–79). On 2 March 1979, rebels loyal to

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from British colonial rule in 1962. Following the nation's independence, he served as prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to ...

attacked the town, whereupon part of the garrison defected while the rest was routed. Tororo was recaptured by the Uganda Army in a counter-attack two days later, though many local civilians were displaced by the fighting. A few weeks later, however, Ugandan President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

's rule throughout Uganda collapsed and the garrison of Tororo reportedly mutinied yet again. In late April 1979, the

Tanzania People's Defence Force The Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF) ( sw, Jeshi la Ulinzi la Wananchi wa Tanzania) is the military force of the United Republic of Tanzania. It was established in September 1964, following a mutiny by the former colonial military force ...

's (TPDF) 19th Battalion, 208th Brigade, moved into Tororo. They encountered no resistance. The town was largely deserted and completely looted. Journalists

Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey are a married couple and former journalistic duo who reported on the 1979 Uganda–Tanzania War and Central America in the 1980s. They were unsuccessful plaintiffs in '' Avirgan v. Hull'' (1986), a civil suit alleging ...

stated that the local UA garrison had fled the city, whereas Tom Cooper and Adrien Fontanellaz claimed that the mutinous troops helped the anti-Amin forces to secure the town. Tororo was captured by the

National Resistance Army The National Resistance Army (NRA), the military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), was a rebel army that waged a guerrilla war, commonly referred to as the Ugandan Bush War or Luwero War, against the government of Milton Obote, and l ...

from the

Uganda National Liberation Army The Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) was a political group formed by exiled Ugandans opposed to the rule of Idi Amin with an accompanying military wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). UNLA fought alongside Tanzanian forces in ...

(UNLA) in early February 1986 during the

Ugandan Bush War The Ugandan Bush War, also known as the Luwero War, the Ugandan Civil War or the Resistance War, was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number ...

. The UNLA counter-attacked in an attempt to retake Tororo and turn the tide in the war, but was repelled.

Location

The town is approximately west of the town of Malaba at the border between Uganda and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. This is approximately , by road, east of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital and largest city. The geographical coordinates of the town are 0°41'34.0"N, 34°10'54.0"E (Latitude:0.692780; Longitude:34.181655). Tororo town lies at an average elevation of above sea level.

Population

In 2002, the national census put the population of the town of Tororo at 34,810. In 2010, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) estimated the population at 42,500. In 2011, UBOS estimated the mid-year population at 43,700. The 2014 national population census put the population at 41,906. In 2015, the population of the town was projected at 43,100. In 2020, the mid-year population of Tororo Town was projected at 48,500. It was calculated that the population of this municipality grew at an average annual rate of 2.5 percent, between 2015 and 2020.

Industry

Tororo is home to three cement factories thus making Tororo the biggest producer of cement in the country. Tororo Cement Limited is the largest cement producer with 3 million tons produced annually. Tororo cement also produces nails, iron sheets, wire mesh among others. Larfage has also established their Hima Cement factory in Tororo producing a variety of cement brands. Tororo has National cement company Uganda Limited (Simba brand), inaugurated in August 2018 and producing 2000 metric tonnes daily. It is also home to SEBA Foods, a food factory that was officially opened by the president of Uganda on 25 June 2010. Electromaxx Limited constructed a 20 megawatt thermal plant, Tororo Power Station, which was commissioned in June 2010. Tororo is also the location of Nilefos Minerals Limited, a subsidiary of the

Madhvani Group The Madhvani Group of Companies commonly referred to as the Madhvani Group, is one of the largest conglomerates in Uganda. The group has investments in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Middle East, India, and North America. His ...

of companies. Nilefos mines and processes phosphates for use in fertilizer and related industries. Aherezaowen1

Rail transport

Tororo marks the junction of

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

s to Pakwach, via

Soroti Soroti is a city in Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main City, commercial, and administrative center in curved out of Soroti District, one of the nine administrative districts in the Teso sub-region. Soroti City was immediately approved ...

, and to

Kasese Kasese is a town north of Lake George in the Western Region of Uganda. It originally grew around the copper mine at Kilembe, while attention later turned to cobalt mining. It is the chief town of Kasese District, and the district headquarters ...

, via Kampala. Since 1993, the metre gauge line from Tororo Junction to

Gulu Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N 32°17'57.0"E. The distance from Gulu to Kampala, Uganda's capital and larg ...

and Pakwach has been out of use.

Rift Valley Railways Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya and Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2005. The Kenya-Uganda railway had previously b ...

funded the clearing of the line east to Gulu of vegetation and repairing track and bridges, thus allowing the first commercial train for 20 years to run through on the metre gauge track from the

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

n port of

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

through

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

and Eldoret to the Kenyan frontier in Tororo and onwards to Gulu on the line to Pakwach on 14 September 2013.

Climate

Tororo has a tropical monsoon climate with a short dry season The average annual temperature is (average high and average low ). Average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

is . Tororo has many

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

s and may be the place where thunder occurs on more days than any other place on Earth. From September to December there is rain most days in the late afternoon. The drier and hotter season starts in December.

Points of interest

The following additional points of interest lie within the town limits or near its edges: 1. The tourist attraction of the town is the dominating rock outcrop that overlooks the town known as

Tororo Rock Tororo Rock is a rock formation located in the town of Tororo in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It serves as the defining feature of the town. It is also a tourist attraction being climbable in around an hour. The climb involves four ladders ...

. It is a hike that takes around an hour to the top. There used to be a cable car that took people to the top but this was closed down after a couple of people died in an accident. There is a fee for a tour guide at the bottom of the rock, just off the golf course. 2. There is a golf course in town with a clubhouse with a pool 3. Offices of Tororo Town Council 4. The Tororo central market was knocked down in September 2017, to make way for a new indoor shopping centre that was predicted to be finished in 2020. This has led to a new market starting nearby in ''Water Village''. 5.

Tororo General Hospital Tororo General Hospital, also Tororo Government Hospital, Tororo District Hospital or Tororo Main Hospital, is a hospital in Uganda. Location The hospital is located in the central business district of the town of Tororo, in Tororo District, ...

, a 200-bed public hospital administered by the

Uganda Ministry of Health The Ministry of Health is a cabinet-level government ministry of Uganda. It is responsible for planning, delivering, and maintaining an efficient and effective healthcare delivery system, including preventive, curative, and rehabilitative service ...

. 6. Uganda Martyrs' Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tororo The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tororo ( la, Tororoën(sis)) is the Metropolitan See for the Ecclesiastical province of Tororo in Uganda. On January 2, 2014, it was announced that the Bishop of Soroti, Uganda, Emmanuel Obbo, had been named b ...

7. ''St. Anthony's Hospital (Uganda)'', a 150-bed mission hospital affiliated with the

8. Christ the King Priory, a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

of the Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien 9.

Tororo–Mbale–Soroti Road Tororo–Mbale–Soroti Road is a road in Eastern Uganda, connecting the towns of Tororo in Tororo District to Mbale in Mbale District and Soroti in Soroti District. Location The road starts at Tororo and goes through Mbale, Bukedea, and Kumi ...

begins here and continues in a northwesterly direction, to end away at

. 10. Tororo Airport, a public airport administered by the

Civil Aviation Authority of Uganda The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) is the government agency responsible for licensing, monitoring, and regulating civil aviation matters. It is administered by the Uganda Ministry of Works and Transport. Location The authority's head of ...

11. Tororo Solar Power Station 12.

Busitema University Busitema University (BU) is a university in Uganda. It is one of the eight public universities and degree-awarding institutions in the country. BU has its main focus on the instruction of agricultural sciences, agricultural mechanization, and a ...

, one of the public universities in Uganda, located , by road, southwest of the central business district of Tororo town. 13. A mobile branch of

PostBank Uganda PostBank Uganda is a commercial bank in Uganda, licensed and supervised by the Bank of Uganda, the country's central bank and national banking regulator. The bank received her tier-1 banking license in December 2021. Before that, PostBank ...

14. Branch of the National Social Security Fund.

Photos

Photo of Tororo Rock 2

Photo of Tororo Cement Works

Photo of Rock Garden Hotel, Tororo

Photo of Downtown Tororo
File:Uganda Tororo Rock.jpg, Tororo Rock Photo

History

Location

Population

Industry

Rail transport

Climate

Points of interest

Photos

See also

References

Works cited

External links