Dictatorship and terror in Uganda

Uganda’s independence was by no means synonymous with democracy. King Mutesa II continued to strive for an independent Bugandan kingdom and wrestled with Obote for supremacy in the country. The result was that the governing coalition broke apart in 1966 and Mutesa II had to go into exile . This was followed by the expropriation of the Bugandan large landowners and the removal of the Bugandan MPs from the parliaments.

Further attempts to secede Buganda were thwarted by military means. Obote then based his power more and more on the army. All kingdoms were abolished, parties banned (1969), opponents arrested and killed. In short: within a short time Obote managed to turn almost all population groups against him.

1971 the president left the country on the occasion of a Commonwealth conference. His highest-ranking army general used this for a coup: Idi Amin was in power. The reason for his coup was financial irregularities within the army budget. These would have placed Amin under severe pressure, so that a coup represented the best way out of the predicament for him.

“The Last King of Scotland” rules brutally

Amin’s eight-year rule is the darkest chapter in Uganda’s history. Without any trace of democratic structures, Amin’s actions were directed solely at retaining power by all means. At the latest since the expropriation and expulsion of all Asians in 1972, Uganda also tottered into economic decline. For the supply of goods to the country through trade could not be maintained by locals. Political opposition was not possible; dissidents were killed in their thousands. It is estimated that more than 300,000 people were murdered in eight years – also by Amin himself.

The end of Amin

To distract from his failure as political leader of Uganda, Amin attacked the neighbouring country Tanzania in 1978 after critical voices from there, but already had to admit defeat in 1979 and fled into exile in Saudi Arabia. There he died in 2003 without trial and punishment.

After Idi Amin a politically chaotic period began, in which the leadership of the country changed several times at short notice. This, however, was at least largely free of violence. In the end Milton Obote prevailed again in 1980, but only with the help of corruption and electoral fraud.

These grievances were also criticised publicly, in particular by the chairman of the newly founded Uganda Patriotic Movement – Yoweri Museveni. In the end, however, he had to flee the capital and organised his resistance underground. With his resistance army, the National Resistance Army (NRA), Museveni fought a guerrilla war against Obote’s troops for years, which he ultimately won and officially took power in 1985.

The second Obote regime was even more cruel than the years under Amin. Political arbitrariness, violence, murder and terror over more than 20 years, together with a shattered economy, had left deep wounds.

Further links

• Information about the film adaptation of Idi Amin’s presidency (“The Last King of Scotland”)