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Uganda Idi Amin and Military Rule
On January 25, 1971, Idi Amin Dada took advantage of
the
turmoil in the military, the weakened popular support for
the
government, and Obote's absence while attending the
meeting of
Commonwealth Conference of Heads of Government at
Singapore to
seize control of the government. Claiming himself to be a
professional soldier, not a politician, Amin promoted many
of his
staunchest supporters, both enlisted personnel and
officers, to
command positions. Nepotism received widespread publicity,
as a
number of laborers, drivers, and bodyguards became
high-ranking
officers, although they had little or no military
training. Army
recruiters suspended educational requirements for military
service, sometimes forcing groups of urban unemployed to
volunteer. After the army had established control over the
civilian population, Amin unleashed a reign of terror
against
Uganda that lasted almost until the end of the decade.
The army changed composition under Amin's rule. By 1977
it
had grown to 21,000 personnel, almost twice the 1971
level. Amin
killed many of its more experienced officers and
imprisoned
others for plotting to weaken or overthrow his regime. A
few fled
the country rather than face the mounting danger. Amin
also
increased the number of military recruits from other
countries,
especially Sudan, Zaire, and Rwanda. By 1979 foreigners
accounted
for nearly 75 percent of the army, exacerbating problems
of
communication, training, and discipline. The government
barely
controlled some army units. A few became quasi-independent
occupation garrisons, headed by violence-prone warlords
who lived
off the land by brutalizing the local population.
Amin established several powerful internal security
forces,
including the State Research Bureau (SRB) and Public
Safety Unit
(PSU). Both terrorized local populations. By 1979 they had
expanded to include about 15,000 people, many of whom
acted as
informers on fellow citizens. The SRB and PSU were
responsible
for as many as 250,000 deaths. Their victims included
people from
all segments of society and were accused of speaking or
acting
against the regime. One official observer estimated that
twothirds of Uganda's technocrats died or fled into exile
during the
1970s. Amin also ordered the expulsion of the country's
Asian
community, which numbered approximately 70,000. These and
other
excesses drained the nation's human and financial
resources; cash
crop cultivation dwindled, most manufacturing ceased, and
the
economy collapsed. Social services, local government, and
public
works activities were almost non-existent.
By late 1978, Amin had laid the groundwork for his
downfall
by eliminating many moderate political and military
leaders. His
actions intensified rivalries within the army, which
destroyed
the alliance among factions from the northwest who had
remained
loyal to Amin. Sudanese and Kakwa soldiers then sought to
weaken
each other's influence, leading to violent disputes and
mutinies
within commands. To defuse these tensions, Amin deployed
the
rebellious Suicide Battalion from Masaka and the Simba
Battalion
from Mbarara to annex an 1,800-square kilometer strip of
Tanzanian territory north of the Kagera River, known as
the
Kagera Salient
(see
fig. 1). Tanzania's president, Julius
Nyerere, responded with force, and within two months the
Tanzanian People's Defence Force (TPDF) had expelled the
Ugandans
from the salient.
On November 14, 1978, Nyerere ordered the TPDF to
invade
Uganda and oust Amin. About 1,000 Ugandans who had been in
exile
in Tanzania and had organized themselves into the Uganda
National
Liberation Army (UNLA) accompanied the TPDF invasion
force. The
TPDF-UNLA force numbered about 45,000. They launched a
twopronged attack supported by long-range artillery. One
group
captured the southern town of Masaka near Lake Victoria;
the
other advanced to the west of Masaka, moving northward
through
Mbarara and then east to Kampala.
By mid-March 1979, about 2,000 Libyan troops and
several
hundred Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters
had
joined in the fight to save Amin's regime; however, this
intervention failed to stop the TPDF-UNLA force. Entire
garrisons
of government troops mutinied or deserted when they
realized that
Amin would lose his hold on the government. Finally, on
April 10,
1979, Kampala fell. Amin went into exile in Tripoli,
Libya, and
approximately 8,000 of his soldiers retreated into Sudan
and
Zaire. The TPDF eventually withdrew from Uganda, and the
victorious UNLA established an unstable government to
restore
peace and stability.
Data as of December 1990
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