Uganda in the 1970s: a decade of paradoxes and ambiguities

Abstract

This article reprises the author's 1977 essay on ethnicity and military governance in Idi Amin's Uganda. In its rhetoric, the Amin regime was committed to the singular goal of allaying ethnic conflict. But in practice, the Amin years were marked by contractions and by often rapid shifts in policy. In the military the Amin years saw the elevation of the president's compatriots and the marginalization of Ganda and other competitors. In religious life, Amin encouraged the consolidation of ecclesiastic hierarchy, banning dissident sects and elevating Catholic, Anglican and orthodox Muslim leaders. In the economy, Amin nationalized Asian-owned businesses and launched an “economic war”, but was unable to provide basic goods and services to Uganda's citizenry. Ideology had little role to play in shaping Uganda's politics. The tensions between rhetoric and practice made the Amin regime into a paradox.

Keywords:

• Uganda
• Idi Amin
• military
• ethnicity

Notes

1. Kalundi Serumaga, “To Older Observers, the Situation is Eerily Reminiscent of the Terminal Idi Amin Years … ,” The East African, May 2, 2011.

2. The point of departure for this article is the author's book from 1977, Ethnicity and Military Rule. See also Joergensen, Uganda A Modern History, chs. 5–7, and Omara-Otunnu, Politics and the Military in Uganda, 1890–1985, chs. 7–11.

3. Quoted in Rothcild and Rogin, “Uganda,” 418.

4. Obote, “The Move to the Left”.

5. Hansen, Ethnicity and Military Rule, 74–93. See also Hansen, “Pre-colonial Immigrants and Colonial Servants. The Nubians in Uganda Revisited,” and Kokole, “Idi Amin, ‘the Nubi’ & Islam in Ugandan Politics 1971–1979.”

6. Southall, “General Amin and the Coup,” 99.

7. Gingyera-Pinycwa, “A.M. Obote.” See also Mutibwa, The Buganda Factor in Uganda Politics, 139–46.

8. Kasozi, The Life of Prince Badru Kakungulu Wasajja, chs. VIII and IX.

9. Katono, “The Paradox of Idi Amin.”

10. “Statement to the Nation by the Uganda Army,” The Uganda Gazette, February 5, 1971, 49 (General Notice 82).

11. Legal Notice No. 5 of March 15, 1971.

12. Voice of Uganda, June 7, 1973.

13. Mutibwa, The Buganda Factor in Uganda Politics, ch. 5.

14. Ravenhill, “Military Rule in Uganda.”

15. See Hansen, Mission, Church and State in a Colonial Setting, ch. 21.

16. Cabinet Memorandum CT (1973) 138, July 31, 1973. See also Africa Contemporary Record 1973–74, p. B 307.

17. For a general reference see Mujaju, “The Political Crisis of Church Institutions in Uganda.” The correspondence between the British High Commission in Kampala and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office gives more details about the religious conferences, FCO 31/1066, National Archives UK.

18. Affairs on the Religious Organisation, Cabinet Memorandum CT (1973) 108, June 26, 1973. On Christian dualism see Hansen, “The Colonial State's Policy towards Foreign Missions in Uganda,” 170–3.

19. Patel, “General Amin.”

20. Government of Uganda, Uganda's Economic War.

21. For an analysis of all aspects of the expulsion of Asians see Twaddle, Expulsion of a Minority.

22. Africa Contemporary Record 1973–74, p. B 295. See also Twaddle, Expulsion of a Minority.

23. “Proceedings Against the Government (Protection) Decree,” Decree No. 9 of 1972; “Proceedings Against the Government (Prohibition) Decree,” Decree No. 19 of 1972.

24. Correspondence in Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO31/1028, National Archives UK.

25. Murison, “The Politics of Refugees.”

26. See Woodward, “Uganda and Southern Sudan.”

27. FCO 31/1338, National Archives, UK.

28. Solomon and Swart, “Libya's Foreign Policy in Flux,” 473.

29. Katono, “The Paradox of Idi Amin.”

30. See Asiimwe, “From Monopoly Marketing to Coffee Magendo.”

31. International Commission of Jurists, Violations of Human Rights.

32. An “eyewitness testimony” has been given by Bishop Festo Kivengere, I Love Idi Amin. See also Ward, “The Church of Uganda amidst Conflict,” 83–7.

33. Kasozi, The Life of Prince Badru Kakungulu Wasajja, ch. 9.

34. Hansen, Ethnicity and Military Rule, ch. 10.

35. Decree 3 Land Reform Decree, 1975. See W.Kisamba-Mugerwa, “Institutional Dimensions of Land Tenure Reform.”

36. See Asiimwe, “From Monopoly Marketing to Coffee Magendo.”

37. Maxwell, “Urban Agriculture: Unplanned Responses to the Economic Crisis.”

38. Mudoola, Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics in Uganda.

39. Kasozi, The Life of Prince Badru Kakungulu Wasajja, ch. 10.