Uganda's darkest time begins ...!


On January 25, 1971, while the President of Uganda, Apolo Milton Obote ...



... is on a trip abroad (he is attending a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore), whose army chief Idi Amin Dada takes power through a bloodless coup.

The next picture shows Obote (centre) at the airport of Singapore, when he found out about the news of his fall ...:



Obote flees first to Tanzania and then to Zambia, where he is granted political asylum.

Here he thanks the Zambian head of state Kenneth Kaunda on his knees ...:



Although his followers hate the overthrown Obote to this day as a “democrat” and “hero of the liberation of Africa”, he was hardly anything else than a criminal - and an old accomplice of Idi Amin's!

After Uganda's independence, he was elected prime minister in democratic elections, but that was about "democracy".

As Prime Minister Obote was involved in a gold smuggling together with Idi Amin, then deputy commander of the Ugandan armed forces.



When Parliament asked for an investigation into the incident and for Amine's impeachment, Obote suspended the constitution and arrested some members of his cabinet.

Obote was acquitted of the allegations, but tensions arose between him and parliament, which criticized him for repealing the constitution. Obote responded with a coup d'état and promoted himself to president on March 2, 1966.

Obote's regime was an autocratic dictatorship. Political opponents were persecuted, discriminated against and tortured during his tenure. The secret police was led by Obote's cousin and was responsible for a number of atrocities. During a UPC congress in 1969, Obote was the target of an assassination attempt in which he was shot in the head.

Meanwhile, Idi Amin rose to command the armed forces.





And now, on January 25, 1971, he takes power himself.

First the people cheered Obote's fall ...:



But just a few days later intellectuals, high officers and judges "disappear". Entire villages that Obote supported are razed to the ground and the residents murdered.





Since one cannot keep up with shoveling graves, the murdered are thrown to the crocodiles in the Nile to eat.

Idi Amin promotes himself to "Field Marshal" and takes childish pleasure in collecting foreign medals. He also received the German Federal Cross of Merit on an official state visit.






The list of official titles he bestowed or had himself conferred was almost as long as my forearm ...:

“His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Hajji Doktor Doktor h. c. Sir Idi Amin Dada, Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Lord of all animals on earth and all fish of the seas and conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in general and Uganda in particular ”.



During his eight years of tyranny, around 400,000 people will fall victim to the country's then only 30 million inhabitants.

In addition, the "lord of all animals on earth" will chase all members of the ethnic minorities out of the country - especially the Indian-born bankers, traders and merchants to get their property, which is ruining Uganda's economy.

He has 12 wives and an unknown number of children - he himself spoke of "at least 40" ...





The Soviet ambassador Alexey Sakharov of all people can talk him out of one of his most obscure ideas (in the next picture, which shows an ambassador reception from the omnipotent, Sakharov kneels, with glasses, far left) ...:



The "conqueror of the British Empire" (he had been a sergeant in the British colonial army) wanted to have a huge monument erected in Kikagati on Lake Victoria in honor of Adolf Hitler, whom he adored.

Here he visits the planned location ...:



In 1986 he will be overthrown, flee to Libya and then to Iraq.

Eventually he went into exile in Saudi Arabia, where the government provided him with a villa in the city of Jeddah on condition that he was not involved in politics.



There the ex-dictator, dubbed the "Butcher of Africa", will die of high blood pressure and kidney failure after a long time in a coma ...:



His old friend and later adversary Milton Obote was still happy about Idi Amin's death!



Obote died on October 10, 2005 in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa of kidney failure.

Since the fall of Idi Amin, Uganda has been reigned uninterrupted by President Yoweri Museveni, who was re-elected in two "democratic" elections (and currently in a third!) ...:



The Ugandans got it better with him: at least Museveni is not a mass murderer, but only corrupt through and through!

And that is a big step forward in this battered country ...

Sad dark days..I do remember these images.

Nasty bugger. He liked a bit of bling, didn't he? Anyone up for sculpting a bust? Nap would love those medals

Phil

Amen to that. I think he is wearing a form of parachute qualification on the left, though I doubt he ever did a jump. He'd never have trusted anyone to pack his 'chute. Ghaddafi and Saddam H soon got fed up with him. Remembered but certainly not missed

Phil

Are these still medals - or do they already wear some special armor ...?

If their boss continues to "award" them like this, they will be completely bulletproof in a few years ...

You got that right!

Pfff, all it takes to overthrow that army is one strong magnet.