{UAH} KILLER BOB ASTLES

#UgandaHistory
#BobAstles
#IdiAminEra

BOB ASTLES (1924 - 2012)
Bob Astles (RIP) was unrivalled as President Idi Amin's most prominent White aide and spin doctor.

Born in 1924 in Netly, New Hampshire, England, Bob Astles joined the British Army and served in India rising to the rank of lieutenant. He also served the Royal Engineer Corps and was deployed in Uganda in 1949 to serve the British Colonial administration. His first assignment saw him partake in successfully quelling the Batakka riots that had erupted in Buganda over the number of representatives in the Buganda Lukiiko.

Astles then worked with a number of political groups during Obote 1 and was also appointed by the Kabaka to UTV. In 1965 Astles learned to fly and with £100 set up Uganda Aviation Services, the first airline in Uganda. This would later be transformed into Uganda Airlines by Amin.

When Amin overthrew President Obote by coup de'tat in January 1971 as Obote was away at the Commonwealth Summit in Singapore, Astles was jailed in the notorious Makindye barracks for four months and was subjected to harsh interrogation.

Astles was released by Amin in 1975, awarded the rank of Major and appointed Head of the Anti-Corruption Squad.

Astles was also made adviser on British affairs as Amin's relationship with the British was at a new low following the ejection of the Ugandan Asians to Britain in 1972.

Bob Astles went on to cleverly curry favour with President Amin, becoming one of his closest aides by marrying, like Amin, a Muganda wife (Mary Ssemkatuka, an aristocrat later appointed a Minister and with whom he later adopted two Asian children) and also bizarrely accepting to have Nubian tribal face marks (pictured) commonly known as '111' (One eleven) inscribed on his cheeks!

White expatriates were however not enamoured by Astles, among whom he became hated figure for the humiliation he inflicted upon them, notably arranging to have four white men carry Amin aloft in a chair as he proclaimed himself the 'White man's burden' and President for life! Astles also got white journalists to kneel before Amin. He was thus nicknamed him the 'White rat' by white expatriates.

When Amin was overthrown by a combined force of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles in April 1979, Bob Astles audaciously escaped to Kenya via Lake Victoria by canoe but his luck run out and he was subsequently arrested and extradited to Uganda. He defended Amin of the alleged atrocities, insisting that he kept his eyes shut and ears closed. He pleaded not guilty to various charges including murder, armed robbery and burglary. He was acquitted of all charges but remained detained as a threat to national security.

In December 1985 he renounced his naturalised Ugandan citizenship and was released. He then left Uganda and settled in Wimbledon, South London, UK, becoming involved in campaigning against foreign interference in African governance until his death in December 2012.
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