The Temporary President

With the Bush War nearing its end Idi Amin fled into exile, claiming that his 1979 ouster would lead to a return to colonialism. Dr Yusuf Lule was chosen to lead the country by the Ugandan National Liberation Front (UNLF), even though he had played only a small role in Aminʼs overthrow.

However, Lule was to become the definition of interim. He arrived in a Mercedes bearing the British rather than Ugandan flag and retained power for under ten weeks. It was the shortest Presidency ever – just 68 days.

Lule was chosen to unite Ugandans – necessary after Amin. Nevertheless, his Presidency made history for all the wrong reasons, but he almost had a second chance. His Uganda Freedom Fighters joined forces with Yoweri Museveniʼs Popular Resistance Army in 1981 to form the National Resistance Army, but he died shortly afterwards and was succeeded by Museveni who led a five-year long guerrilla campaign.

Both Milton Obote and Amin before him had confiscated property from Asians and expelled them. Lule refused to reverse this policy. Lule governed through the National Consultative Commission (NCC), but fatally underestimated where real power lay – Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, Paulo Muwanga, later to become President for a few days and the UNLF.

Coups

Lule tried to usher in reform of the military, which was seen by veterans of the liberation struggle as punishing them. A coup removed him from power in June 1979 and replaced him with Professor Edward Rugumayo, but faced with riots he was rapidly replaced with Godfrey Binaisa.

Meanwhile, Lule was exiled to Tanzania, where he was placed under house arrest. He was allowed to leave for treatment in London and finally died there. Almost a year after Lule was overthrown Binaisa suffered the same fate – the coup that toppled his government was carried out by Muwanga, Museveni, David Oyite-Ojok and Tito Okello.

The Return of Obote

Muwanga was installed as President for a few days before the Presidential Commission of Uganda was established. That Commission was chaired by Muwanga and oversaw elections, which gave Nyerere the result that he wanted – the return of Obote.

Muwanga declared that Obote had won the elections that were held in December 1980. Museveni did not accept the decision and began a guerrilla war against Oboteʼs government. Muwanga would later pay a price for his decision when Museveni toppled Oboteʼs second and last administration in 1985. Muwanga was jailed for kidnap. He was released a few months before his subsequent death.

After announcing the contested result in Oboteʼs favour Muwanga became Ugandaʼs Vice-President. Sadly, his second coming as President showed that Obote had learned little from the mistakes that plagued his first term and eventually would lead to the same end.

Crimes Against Humanity

In January 1971 Idi Amin, the Commander of the Army overthrew the President Milton Obote. Amin was greeted as a liberator at first, but behind the buffoonery, a vicious tyrant ruled with bestial cruelty. Estimates on the casualties vary from at least 100000 to almost half a million during Aminʼs killing fields.

Milton Obote had been deposed and was in exile in Tanzania. His supporters joined him there. Ugandan Asians were fortunate, if that is the right word. Their businesses and savings were seized and they were expelled – many came to Britain, but the nightmare to come eclipsed their suffering. Africans paid with their lives, but the solution, albeit a temporary one was African in origin too.

Amin was not satisfied with murder. The bodies of victims such as Godfrey Kigala, among others were savagely mutilated after death. The price of opposition was very high indeed – even higher than under his former mentor Milton Obote. The bodies of Aminʼs victims were cut open and internal organs used and abused.

Amin inherited and revamped the machinery of repression that he inherited from Obote. That machinery was cleansed of Obote loyalists – many were slaughtered after being imprisoned by Amin – and then utilised to maintain the terror. Torture, murder, disappearances and much more were rife in Aminʼs Uganda.

Decline

Tanzaniaʼs President had granted asylum to Obote and his supporters and its President Julius Nyerere was Oboteʼs friend. Obote led the opposition and planned a return to power. Meanwhile, Amin grew to like the taste of power, clinging to it for eight years. It had to be prised loose from his grasp, but not before the tyranny resumed. Tales of Aminʼs cruelty are rife.

At first Amin was pro-western, maintaining very friendly relations with Israel. Britain also broke off diplomatic relations in 1977. Relations with his neighbour President Nyerere started badly and got worse. He later shifted his political allegiances, but Ugandaʼs economy stagnated. Relations with Nyerere continued to deteriorate – ultimately that would cost Amin power.

Fall

Nyerere would prove to be an obdurate opponent of Amin who contributed in no small measure to the overthrow of Aminʼs bestial regime. So too did Idi Amin himself. On October 9^th 1978 Aminʼs troops invaded Tanzania in an attempt to annex the province of Kagera from Ugandaʼs neighbour. It was an insult that Nyerere understandably would not tolerate.

Tanzaniaʼs war aims were limited to the recovery of the seized territory, but Nyerere decided that extending the war aims to overthrow Amin was a ʻJust Warʼ. History has judged Nyerereʼs intervention kindly. After eight months of fighting the Tanzanian army ousted Amin with help from Ugandan guerrillas, including the current President Yoweri Musseveni.

The Winter of the Despot

Their triumph exposed the crimes that the despot had committed. Amin should have been brought to justice at the International Court of Justice.¹ Even with military assistant provided by the then Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, he was overthrown on April 11^th 1979. He fled to Libya, remaining there until 1980.

Amin then left Libya for Saudi Arabia and was given asylum and a generous stipend to stay out of politics by Saudi Arabiaʼs King Khalid. Amin never faced trial. Despite his promise, Amin tried and failed to regain power in 1989, ironically being forced to abandon his plans by an even worse despot Joseph Mobutu (Mobutu Sese Seko).

Amin was forced to return to Jeddah. Despite breaking his word, Saudi Arabia took him back. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni refused pleas from one of his wives for him to be allowed to return to Uganda to die. Museveni said that Amin returned he would have to answer for his crimes. Amin died on August 16^th 2003. He remains one of the worldʼs most reviled dictators.

Overthrow

Millton Obote had sewn the seeds of his own downfall. His first reign had seen the promise of independence, achieved by Uganda on October 9^th 1962, give way to one-party rule. Obote outmanoeuvred the Kabaka Yekka and the Democratic Party before turning on dissenters in his own party the Uganda Peopleʼs Congress. He ruled by decree and concentrated more and more power in his own hands.

Paranoia was mixed in with real fears. Serious assassination attempts failed to claim his life. The repression, torture and jailing of opponents was followed by banning other parties and further imprisonment and violation of basic human rights. Meanwhile, the economy stagnated. Obote distrusted his military protégé Idi Amin with good cause, even before Amin made his grab for power.

Nevertheless, Obote failed to realise the extent of his unpopularity and the danger it posed. He left for a summit meeting of Heads of State in the Commonwealth in Singapore in January 1971. On January 25^th 1971 Obote was deposed.

Honeymoon and Exile

Like Caligula before him Idi Amin enjoyed a honeymoon period. Obote had described himself as a socialist. His policies were unpopular both inside Uganda and in the West. Britain, the former colonial power was accused of complicity in Aminʼs coup. Amin was portrayed as a buffoon – humorous even – but that hid a darker truth. Amin was a sociopath.

However, Oboteʼs unpopularity led to Amin being welcomed as a liberator. He assured Ugandans that he was not interested in power. He was a soldier not a politician. He would restore democracy as soon as possible. But Amin quickly grew to like the taste of power.

Obote, meanwhile, had to get used to a new reality. He wasnʼt Ugandaʼs ʻkingʼ any more. He could not brook dissent let alone opposition. His hubris had brought him and more importantly his country and people to disaster, but still Obote could see specks in the eyes of others, but not the mote in his own.

His friend, the Tanzanian President, Julius Nyerere, gave him asylum. He was joined by supporters and prepared for a triumphant return once Ugandans and the world realised that Idi Amin was far more than a buffoon, he was a despot – one of the worst tyrants Africa had ever produced. But that would take almost a decade and would owe more to Aminʼs greater hubris than to Oboteʼs skilful leadership.