{UAH} THERE WAS SO MUCH VIOLENCE IN WEST NILE THAT MKAPA HAD TO FLY INTO UGANDA

Violence eclipses Muwanga’s reign as Obote returns

 

 

 

 

Mr Obote (2nd L) waves to supporters in Bushenyi District upon his heroic return in May 1980. It is said that he enjoyed the military protection like a head of state. Courtesy Photo 

By Allan Chekwech

In Summary

1971-9 ghost lingers. Amin had been deposed, three leaders had come after him in a space of just over a year, but the characteristics of his regime had failed to disappear.

As noted earlier in this series, violence and instability in the country was growing by the time President Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa was shown the exit.

Binaisa, having assumed the Ministry of Defence leadership, had decided that the Tanzanian troops should return to their country and by mid January 1980, only about 14,000 were remained.

Immediately after the Tanzanian army left, a wave of insecurity hit the city with daily murders. It emerged that when the Tanzanians left, private militias from the north came into play; they had reportedly been built by David Oyite-Ojok, Tito Okello and Bazilio Okello.

More of the militias poured into the capital by May and killings increased.
When the new interim government led by Paulo Muwanga together with Oyite-Ojok, the military commander, took over, dirty marks of the post-Amin turbulence would soon reemerge.

In October 1980, more than a year after Amin’s ouster, it is said a massacre occurred in West Nile. When Amin overthrew Obote in 1971, there was a major massacre of Acholis and the Langis and in a turn of events when Amin’s regime fell, the Kikosi Maluum, the heart of Uganda National Liberation Army after the 1978-9 anti- Amin war, revenged by carrying out massacres in West Nile.

Phares Mutibwa in Uganda Since Independence (A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes) says prominent among those killed in the attacks was Martin Okwer, the then branch manager of Uganda Airlines in Arua, and his 10 family members, and other civil servants who were hiding at White Rhino Tourist Hotel.
Reports indicate that the whole of Arua Town was destroyed in the attacks and property in Koboko and Moyo towns looted.

Obote came from Lira in Lango and Amin had his background rooted in Koboko in West Nile. Phares Mutibwa adds: “According to the The Citizen (Tanzanian newspaper) of November 3, 1980, the Ugandan government claimed that Zaire [DRC], Sudan and Saudi Arabia had facilitated the invasion of West Nile by forces loyal to the run-away president, Idi Amin…”

This development forced the then Tanzanian Foreign Minister, who later became president, Mr Benjamin Mkapa, to fly to Kampala to iron out issues with the Military Commission.

Destruction
It is reported that the death toll was so high that bodies were scattered all over the destroyed towns, with most of them rotting. Only gun-wielding men with heavy boots would be seen in West Nile. Such was the price innocent civilians had paid for giving the country a leader in Amin.

The number of those killed, however, still remains unofficial, but the incidents splashed blood on the two regions’ white linen; and it indeed stained – painfully.

The hostile environment in the evening of the Binaisa reign that poured onto the Muwanga government had plunged the country into chaos. Meanwhile, Muwanga’s rise to power is said to have earned him hatred among his fellow Baganda who probably thought he had betrayed Binaisa.

The December 1980 elections were a few months away yet so far away. A national electoral commission was formed and would be chaired by Kosia Kikira. But it was later alleged, although no official proof has been made to this effect, that the vice chairperson of the Military Commission, Yoweri Museveni, did not embrace the idea of a general election. His option was that the Commission continues ruling but Muwanga and Oyite-Ojok overpowered him.

December 10, 1980 was set as the Election Day after September 30 had also been fronted. Again, the political map of Uganda had been redrawn.
Milton Obote, whose associates in Kampala, including the Military Commission head, had tilled and watered his political land, also indicated he would be returning home.

Uganda was ungovernable and Obote had also said the country was leaderless. So his return could have been viewed by the Military Commission as one that would restore peace in the country.

Obote’s footmarks were apparently still dotted prominently on Uganda’s political map. He still had strong contacts with Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, who reportedly asked him not to make phone contacts with Muwanga and Oyite-Ojok following Binaisa’s exit. A.B.K. Kasozi in The Social Origins of Violence In Uganda notes: “...Tanzania, which had protected Obote, eliminated Amin, and helped Obote’s forces in Uganda to consolidate, did not want to appear to be returning him to power in an undemocratic and illegal way.”

Obote returns
Earlier on May 27, 1980, Obote had made a triumphant return from Tanzania where he had been in exile for more than eight years. His plane landed at Nyakisharara airstrip in Mbarara, where he met anxiously waiting crowds. He would later that day address a rally in Bushenyi, one of his strongholds.

Obote could have chosen to return via Western Uganda because of his icy relationship with Buganda. He had overthrown Kabaka Muteesa, raided the Mengo palace in 1966 and forced the Kabaka into exile where he died. So Obote could not have received the heroic welcome had he landed at Entebbe.

Meanwhile, another party sprouted soon after Obote’s return. The Uganda Patriotic Movement under the stewardship of Museveni and political veterans Jaberi Bidandi Ssali, Eriya Kategeya, and Kirunda Kivejinja, came into play.

achekwech@ug.nationmedia.com

 

EM

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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