Memories of April 11 as day of Amin's overthrow passes quietly

April 11, 2023, marked 44 years since the overthrow of the military government of Gen Idi Amin Dada.

A combined force of Ugandans living in exile and the Tanzanian People's Defense Forces (TPDF) stormed Kampala after six months of fighting. The war started in October 1978 when the Ugandan army crossed into Tanzania and annexed the northern region of Kagera.

After the fall of Kampala, on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 11, 1979, Lt Col David Oyite Ojok announced, over Radio Uganda, the fall of what he called a fascist and racist regime of Amin.

“Fellow countrymen, I’m Lt Col David Oyite Ojok, I bring you good news. On behalf of Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), we have today Wednesday, April 11, 1979, captured the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Today, the racist, fascist and illegal region of Dictator Idi Amin is no longer in power. We ask all the masses of Uganda to rise and join hands in eliminating the few remaining murderers, routers and rapists at large. We appeal to all the peace-loving people of the world to support the people’s liberation cause and contain the former racist regime. We order all the soldiers who have not yet surrendered to do so immediately. Lastly, we ask all the residents in Kampala to remain calm and stay indoors. Please stay tuned for further announcements, I say this FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY,” he announced.

Lt Col Oyite Ojok had been commander of Kikosi Maalum, one of the fighting groups during the war to overthrow Amin. He would rise through the ranks rapidly in the subsequent governments to become Chief of Staff and at the rank of Major General by the time he and 10 other officers died in a plane crash in December 1983.

Amin had been in power for eight years since January 1971 after, as Commander of the national army, he orchestrated a military coup against his Commander-in-Chief, President Apollo Milton Obote. Obote would spend almost a decade in exile in Tanzania from where he organised with other Ugandans for a comeback.

Amin's rule would unleash what some scholars have described as a reign of terror, especially targeting the Lango and Acholi whom he believed to be supporters of deposed President Obote.

Forty-four years after Amin's fall, some of the people who witnessed the events share their experiences.

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Retired Col Tony Otoa, a former fighter with Kikosi Maalum and later a serving officer with the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), recalls how they returned to Kampala on April 9 to join Oyite Ojok to declare the fall of Amin’s regime. Otoa, 83, says Kampala had technically fallen on Monday but it took them two days to make the now famous announcement because all the radio presenters and technicians had fled.

“When we went to Radio Uganda, there were no news anchors, so for two days we were looking for people who could work for us. We found one called Dick Nyai and tasked him with the mission to find out who is still alive and could come and help us with this radio. So we happened to meet some of them and they set it for us and then the announcement came at about 3PM,” he said, adding that the streets of Kampala were filled with jubilant people.

Mr Patrick Abal, now the head of the Arak Ongoda clan, who was then a Senior Three student at St Joseph's College Ombaci in Arua District, remembers the anxiety, pain and pressure he felt upon receiving the news while in what he calls a foreign land.

He says April 11, 1979, happened to be the day students at St Joseph Ombaci were getting First Term holidays. He adds that they boarded a bus belonging to North Nile Bus Company to come home but felt the pressure that there was a lot of fighting nearing Kampala. He says there was no fighting in Arua initially, they travelled home through Koboko, Moyo and Adjumani.

“Between Moyo and Laropi, that’s where we met a Tipper Truck loaded with Amin’s commandos. They stopped our bus and told the driver that the government had been overthrown. Individually, there was excitement but we subdued it. The moment we arrived in Gulu, soldiers came running after our bus, stopping it very arrogantly and pulling us out of it. Immediately we were out, they drove to the barracks with all our luggage,” he said.

“I walked on barefoot all night trying to look for a nearby relative in Lira and arrived when my feet were swollen. He kept me for a few days and by the time I reached home, my parents had almost lost hope, they were planning to do a funeral,” he added.

Mr Abal implored the people of Lango not to forget about the past or take threats lightly saying if President Obote had been vigilant, Amin would not have overthrown him.

April 11 passes largely quietly as many political changes in Uganda mean other days and events are prioritised.

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Mr Ishaa Otto Amiza, former Oyam South Member of Parliament argues that the 1979 liberation took a lot of effort from many gallant sons of Uganda, especially those from Lango and Acholi, who have gone without being remembered. Otto believes that although government recognizes and celebrates the January 26 Liberation Day, it would be fair to celebrate the other men and women in uniform, and civilians who fought to see that Amin's tyranny came to an end.

Some political activists are planning to launch the documentation and annual commemoration of those who sacrificed their lives and families to champion the 1979 liberation. Otto says that nearly every family or clan in Lango lost their dear ones in an inhumane manner at the hands of the State Research Bureau (SRB), the military intelligence agency of Amin's government.

He says it is unfair to ignore and forget those who paid the ultimate price for the good of Uganda.