Apollo Milton Obote was a prominent figure in Uganda's history, serving as both Prime Minister and President during a tumultuous period. While he played a crucial role in leading Uganda to independence, his time in power was marked by political instability, human rights abuses, and ultimately, two military coups that ousted him from office.
In January 1971, while on a visit to Singapore for a Commonwealth Conference, Milton Obote, then President of Uganda, was overthrown by Idi Amin. While Milton Obote contributed to the nationalist anti-colonial struggle and played an important role in founding the modern Ugandan nation in the first period of his rule, which seems almost indisputable, Oberte was also accused of widespread human rights abuses, and according to some sources, the deaths attributed to him are greater than those of Idi Amin.
Milton Obote: The Untold Story of The Tyrant Overthrown by Idi Amin
Brief Uganda History
The British had ruled Uganda as a protectorate since 1894. Under this arrangement, Britain provided diplomatic and military protection, organized government administrative functions, and imposed taxes upon Uganda. Many of the policies put in place by the British in the protectorate benefited the Baganda, the largest ethnic group in Uganda, whose homeland of Buganda was a separate kingdom within the Ugandan territory. In fact, the Baganda were the preferred ethnic group of the British colonialists.
As time progressed, the people of Uganda were demanding an end to these and other policies that created division and injustice. They were growing increasingly impatient for independence. After the end of the Second World War, Britain began planning the formal end of the protectorate.
One of the key players in the process to gain independence for the country of Uganda was a man by the name Apollo Milton Obote.
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Early Life of Obote
The man known as Milton Obote was born in the Apac district of northern Uganda on 20th December 1925, and he was the third of nine children. Because his father, a farmer, was a minor chieftain of the Lango tribe, Obote believed himself destined to become a leader.
He first attended Busoga College and then Makerere University in Kampala from 1948 to 1949. Unfortunately, he was expelled from the university for his political activities before he could graduate. Following his expulsion, the British colonial government prevented him from accepting scholarships to study in the United States and West Germany.
Obote then worked odd jobs as a laborer and a salesman in the southern Ugandan region of Buganda and then moved to Kenya in 1950. While Oberte was in Kenya, he joined the Kenya National Union, a political organization led by the accused Mau Mau instigator and later the first Prime Minister and President of independent Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta. It was here where Obote cut his teeth in the world of politics and learned skills that would help him to go on to play a central role in the struggle for Ugandan independence.
Uganda’s Rocky Independence
On returning to Uganda, Milton Obote focused his energies on political organizing, and of central importance to him was the need to reach out to traditional tribal leaders to bridge the divides among them and gain their political support. In 1956, he joined the political party, the Uganda National Congress, and was elected to the colonial legislative council in 1957.
1959 would see this party split into two factions, with one faction under the leadership of Obote merging with the Uganda People’s Union to form the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC). Obote continued to forge tribal alliances that would ensure a UPC victory in the country’s first independent election that was scheduled for 1962.
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As he was making all these alliances, he was careful not to alienate the powerful and influential Baganda. So, he made a deal with them: if the Baganda voted for Obote’s UPC, he would see to it that their king, the Kabaka Edward Mutesa II, would become president, while Obote himself would take the more powerful position as Prime Minister. The deal worked in Obote’s favor, and in 1962, he was sworn in as Uganda’s first Prime Minister, with Kabaka Edward Mutesa II as president. A coalition government was formed, and the main alliance here was Milton Obote’s UPC and the King’s Kabaka Yekka Party, which won all the seats in the Kingdom of Buganda.
Obote Overthrows the King
The early years of Uganda’s independence were a time of considerable optimism and economic growth. Between 1960 and 1965, Uganda had booming exports of coffee, cotton, and tea, achieving the highest per capita growth in East Africa. The nation also had a carefully constructed federal constitution that enabled the ancient kingdom of Buganda to retain a measure of internal autonomy, with its own parliament called the Lokiko, while allowing the central government in Kampala to maintain effective control nationally.
Just like what was happening across many African nations at the time, Milton Obote set his sights on establishing a one-party state, arguing that tribal and factional groupings tended to threaten the stability of the country, and a one-party state was needed to forge a sense of national unity. Unfortunately, very soon, Obote’s ambitions were going to tear Uganda apart.
Following these developments, relations between the Kabaka and Milton Obote became strained. The King of Buganda was pushing for recognition of Buganda as a separate kingdom, an aim that Oberte thoroughly rejected. At the same time, Obote also angered other tribal leaders by pushing an economic agenda that was strongly pro-communist and weakened their governing powers.
With time, Milton Obote’s style of government became increasingly secretive and autocratic. Things escalated in Uganda when, in February of 1966, a Kabakayeka Party member of parliament accused government ministers, Oborete together with Idi Amin, the then deputy commander of the Ugandan armed forces, of smuggling gold from the Congo, an accusation that was interpreted as an attack upon Milton Obote.
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So, the parliament set in motion a move to try and remove Milton Obote, and it looked as though Obote was going to fall. To avoid this from happening, Milton Oborte carried out his coup, arresting five of his ministers at a cabinet meeting. He immediately suspended Uganda’s constitution and declared himself president with almost absolute powers. Milton Obote also abolished the federal status of Buganda and other kingdoms, as well as the official estates held by the chiefs.
The King of Buganda, Mutesa II, fervently objected, calling this move illegal. His Lukiko, the parliament of Buganda, reacted to the coup by Oberte by demanding that the central government leave Buganda soil, in other words, it declared itself independent of Uganda. Three days later, as rumors spread that the Baganda were taking up arms, Milton Obote sent troops led by Idi Amin to attack Mutesa’s palace. The palace was shelled and ransacked, and several hundred Baganda died. King Mutesa II fled to the UK, where he spent the rest of his life in exile in London, dependent on the generosity of friends.
Obote’s Reign and Decline
Obote’s increasing reliance on the military and police to terrorize his political opponents aroused the resentment of the southern Ugandans. In turn, it allowed Idi Amin to build a following based on recruits from his own Kakwa people. Idi Amin eventually used this base of support to overthrow Obote, but more on this a little bit later.
The period when Milton Obote was in power saw an expanded secondary school system, the construction of an extensive road and railway network, and the introduction of a vastly improved rural health service throughout the country. In his first stint in office, Milton Obote put Uganda on a sound economic footing, although much of that would change by the end of his second regime.
It is worth noting that Milton Obote belongs to a generation of African politicians often described as the founding fathers of their nations. These leaders had to grapple with the formidable task of forging new African nations out of the many nationalities and ethnic groups within the boundaries of their newly independent countries. Having led this country, Uganda, to independence in 1962, Milton Obote was a signatory to the Organization of African Unity charter of 1963. Four years later, in 1967, alongside Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Julius Nyerere, Milton Obote participated in the formation of the East African Community.
On the domestic front, trouble was brewing for him in the form of one Idi Amin.
Idi Amin Overthrows Obote
One of the people that Milton Obote relied heavily upon was Idi Amin, whom he had promoted to be the chief of the army and the air force. However, Obote just Amin as he considered him one of his most loyal supporters and ignored rumors that Idi Amin had tortured opponents.
Gradually, their relationship began to sour, and they grew widely suspicious of each other. Idi Amin was also implicated in the murder of the army’s deputy commander, an Acholi officer who supported Milton Obote. Idi Amin also faced accusations of embezzlement of army funds. Meanwhile, Idi Amin was building an extensive power base from his high position within Obote’s government, and in 1970, Mutuno Bote finally recognized that Idi Amin had become too great of a threat and demoted him.
Taking advantage of Milton Obote’s departure from Uganda for a Commonwealth conference, Idi Amin’s track-first. Milton Obote was overthrown by Idi Amin and sought refuge in Tanzania. Idi Amin’s coup in 1971 was carried out with little resistance from within the army and was met in many parts of Uganda with relief and enthusiasm. Throughout Buganda, the news of Obote’s downfall brought joy to many.
Idi Amin’s brutal tactics soon made him a hated tyrant, and during his eight-year rule, an estimated 500,000 Ugandans were tortured and killed. After he lost power, Milton Obote went to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, where the government there continued to treat him like a head of state. He was given a stipend, a seafront house dubbed State House Number Two, and round-the-clock security protection. Milton Obote frequently dined with Julius Nyerere, the then-leader of the country. In return, the Tanzanians asked only that he keep a low public profile. However, behind the scenes, Obote was Amin’s most persistent and formidable opponent.
În 1972, Obote sent over 1,000 guerrillas into Uganda in an abortive attempt to topple Amin. Unfortunately for him, they were overpowered by Amin’s troops, and several hundred were killed. In 1979, Tanzanian troops entered Uganda and deposed Amin, paving the way for Obote to retake power.
Obote Makes a Return
After Milton Oborte had returned to Uganda, a general election held in 1980 gave him the presidency. But most observers believed the voting to have been rigged in favor of Obote. Subsequently, Milton Obote’s attempts to consolidate power led him to exact his own repressive measures against opposing parties and tribes. Maybe he wanted to avoid what had happened nine years earlier when he was overthrown by Idi Amin.
Now that he was at the helm again, Oborte ordered Uganda’s National Liberation Army to conduct a brutal campaign against those who opposed him, especially the National Resistance Army, a guerrilla movement in the western part of the country, led by Yoweri Museveni, the current President of Uganda. Museveni’s NRA had declared an armed rebellion following the victory by Obote’s UPC in the bitterly disputed 1980 general election.
As Uganda’s army and the NRA became engaged in battle, both sides of the guerrilla war committed mass atrocities against civilians, and the instability also produced massive displacement. The second presidency of Milton Obote was characterized by sustained violence in Uganda. The army destroyed entire villages, killing thousands of civilians with impunity. It is worth noting that Milton Obote could not control aspects of his security forces. There was open communal conflict within his military, and soldiers of Acholi descent frequently committed acts of insubordination against their superiors. Because of this, rifts started to emerge in the army, and the rifts were further widened by competition between the different ethnic factions for control of weapons and supplies.
Yoweri Museveni was able to exploit this divide in the army by capitalizing on the united front of his NRA. As Obote’s soldiers lost their will to fight for him, many chose to defect to Museveni’s NRA, weakening Obote’s position.
From this period of fighting, it is reported that the government forces killed between 100,000 and 200,000 civilians, and they detained and tortured several thousand others. At least 150,000 refugees were forced to flee to international Red Cross refugee camps.
Obote’s Fall
By 1985, factions within Obote’s own army strongly opposed him and organized a coup in July of that year. Following this, Obote fled to Kenya and then found permanent refuge in Zambia. A little while later, Yoweri Museveni eventually took over as President of Uganda.
Though many Ugandans believed Obote would eventually return, Yoweri Museveni warned him that if he did so, he would face criminal prosecution for the deaths of thousands who had perished during his regime in the 1980s.
Apollo Milton Obote died on the 10th of October 2005 of kidney failure in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was 79 years old.
Key Events in the Life of Milton Obote
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1925 | Born in Apac district, Uganda |
| 1962 | Became Prime Minister of Uganda |
| 1966 | Overthrew King Mutesa II and declared himself President |
| 1971 | Overthrown by Idi Amin in a military coup |
| 1980 | Returned to power as President |
| 1985 | Deposed again in a military coup and fled into exile |
| 2005 | Died in Johannesburg, South Africa |
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