ABSTRACT
In Uganda, President Obote’s arbitrary rule, including his abolition of tribal monarchies, caused unrest, especially among the Baganda, the people of the old kingdom of Buganda. The army commander, General Amin, seized power in 1971. He imposed a reign of terror, and expelled the whole Asian community; and in 1976 he collaborated with Arab and neoNazi German hijackers who brought a planeload of hostages, including many Israelis, to Entebbe airport. (An Israeli airborne commando rescued the hostages.) In 1978, Amin invaded Tanzania. The counterattacking Tanzanians quickly overran Uganda; troops were sent by Libya (39) to help Amin run away, and so he did. With Tanzanian backing, Obote regained power; but his army proved as brutal as Amin’s, provoking a resistance movement whose forces captured Kampala in 1986. They installed a more able and less oppressive government that took some steps towards democracy and has been among the most successful in Africa in combating the spread of AIDS. Unfortunately, the change of regime in 1986 was also followed by a rebellion in the north, where the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has murdered and kidnapped thousands of people (mostly children). The rural population in several districts fled their homes for camps that themselves have come under attack by the LRA, most of whose ‘soldiers’ are enslaved children.
