Uncertainty after Amin overthrow

Tanzanian Brigadier Marwa Kambale organised the parade to sort out the POWs by tribe. There were 1,200 Baganda, Banyankore, Basoga, and other tribes, as well as 735 Acholi and 450 Langi.

What shocked the Tanzanians was that there were over 700 Acholi and over 400 Langi in Amin’s Uganda Army. The Tanzanians, as they fought to oust Amin, had been led to believe that they were fighting the man who had, among other evil deeds, massacred or exiled nearly all the Acholi and Langi of the 1971 Uganda Army.

Later, an irritated Brig. Marwa asked the new Chief of Staff Lt. Col. David Oyite-Ojok why the Tanzanian government had been told that Amin had systematically massacred all Acholi and Langi soldiers.

The other thing that surprised the liberators was the state of the Uganda they saw. Things that Ugandans took for granted, the Tanzanian soldiers found fascinating and luxurious possessions.

The Tanzanians saw the way Ugandans lived, many saw radio cassette players and wore watches for the first time in their lives in Uganda, and could not reconcile the stories they had heard about Ugandans suffering under Amin and these Ugandans with good schools, nice cars, and a generally higher economic standard than the Tanzania that was liberating Uganda.

The Tanzanian officers and soldiers were amazed when they set foot at the Makindye Military Police Barracks, the army barracks at Katabi near Entebbe Town, the Entebbe airforce base, the Magamaga ordinance depot near Jinja and the Gulu and Nakasongola airforce bases, and other military installations around the country.

Amin had created facilities for his soldiers that Ugandan soldiers since 1979 have never enjoyed again. The Tanzanians found some of the best military equipment and spare parts in Uganda and took them to Tanzania.

The Post Office in Entebbe had just bought a new and sophisticated telephone exchange, but it was seized by the Tanzanians and taken to Tanzania.

But, drinking and dancing to musical hits like Sina Makosa and Paulina by Les Wanyika, these grateful Ugandans still believed that the end of Amin was the start of their best years yet.

Starting tomorrow, this series examines the dark and frightening cloud that settled over Uganda within weeks following the fall of Amin.