On this day 39 years ago, military tanks rumbled into Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, and at 3.45pm an announcement was made on Radio Uganda that President Obote had been deposed by the armed forces of Uganda. Obote was at a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore at the time, and General Idi Amin took the opportunity to seize power and declare himself the new president. Obote was unpopular, and Amin’s coup was met with wild celebrations.
Military coups almost invariably have unpleasant consequences, and it was not long before Amin started slaughtering members of the armed forces who were from the Acholi and Langi tribes, on the ground that they were suspected Obote supporters. Asians were expelled from the country and their businesses were seized, creating a sharp economic decline from which the country has still not recovered. Anyone suspected of opposing Amin was imprisoned and tortured.
Amin’s reign of terror lasted for eight years, during which time more than 300,000 people are thought to have been killed. In the end Amin was forced out of power when he tried to invade part of Tanzania, and the Tanzanian army retaliated, marching all the way to Kampala and capturing the city. Amin escaped to Libya and then lived the rest of his life in exile in Saudi Arabia.