For several days in February of 1976, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin threatened to annex parts of Kenya.
Kenya’s nervy intelligentsia did not underestimate Amin’s cockiness. Besides, Uganda’s army was among the best equipped (by Russia) in Africa.
Kenya stepped up its own war propaganda. As Mzee Kenyatta ordered Kenya’s troops to the border, anti-Amin rallies were also quickly staged around the country.
Kenya was eager to send a stern message to Uganda that Kenyans were ready to defend their country if invaded.
And for good measure, Kenyan British-made jet fighters, made thunderous fly pasts at the border, never mind that Uganda had superior MIG aircraft from Russia.
Amidst the standoff, no fewer than 300 Uganda-bound fuel trucks were seized by the Kenyatta government. Amin’s Uganda began to rapidly run out of gas.
The shortage bit so hard that the Ugandan government slapped a ban on driving by private motorists. Streets in Kampala and towns around the country were emptied of vehicular traffic.
Meanwhile, Kenya made sure that the Ugandan military received a leaked but falsified intelligence report. The report had it that Kenya had starved petrol stations and depots in western Kenya of fuel that Amin’s army would depend on.
But other reports suggested that Nairobi was willing to starve western Kenya of fuel as a way of starving the invading force.
In desperate retaliation, Amin cut off electric power supplied by Uganda to parts of western Kenya.
Days later, however, Uganda’s dictator Idi Amin Dada suddenly announced that he would not invade “one inch” of his neighbour’s territory.
But when later in the year -July to be specific, Kenya allowed Israeli military aircraft to refuel in Nairobi after the shockingly successful Entebbe hostage rescue, Amin renewed his belligerence.
Emboldened by the fact that the Israelis had destroyed on the Entebbe tarmac Amin’s MIGs, Kenya was defiant. Indeed, in solidarity with Kenya, the US dispatched warships to the Kenyan coast as if to send a warning to Uganda.
Dozens of Kenyans living in Uganda were reported murdered in retaliation. At the same time, Amin appealed to the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity for aid to counter the fuel blockade, which he warned “may force Uganda to resort to desperate action.”
Amin faced pressures from other quarters, too. Britain took the unprecedented action of breaking diplomatic ties with its former African protectorate. Relations had been strained since 1972, when Amin drove out thousands of Asians from Uganda.
After Amin failed to explain the apparent murder of one of the Entebbe hostages, Mrs. Dora Bloch, a British-Israeli citizen, and then expelled two British diplomats, Whitehall decided on the break.
It was a costly move for Britain: Amin relinquished responsibility for compensating British firms and individuals for some $450 million in assets seized by his regime.
Was London acting in collusion with Nairobi to invite Amin’s overthrow? No, British officials were quick to point out.
If Amin were toppled now, they argued, even more extremist soldiers would probably take over, and Uganda could be plunged into bloodletting.
Amin’s aides led by British native Bob Astles advised him to ‘move on’ after Entebbe. He had no Air Force, per se, and morale in the military was low, especially after the devastating Entebbe raid by the Israelis.
Besides, Tanzania was a bigger threat as it harboured and trained Ugandan dissidents in their country.
Amin would a few years later be toppled by the Tanzania military, backed by these dissidents.
How times change. Uganda now boasts the biggest stocks of oil in East Africa.
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idi amin was a kenyan soldier in kiamachimbi police station karatina…I KNOW THESE THINGS
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He was on the brits side hunting and killing maumau
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Hii tuliona 1977
Kenyatta alikua mjanja sana
And the name Dada came about due to his skirt chasing antics. Surprisingly, some Ugandans rate the murderous buffoon very highly.
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Only his tribesmen.
Even a good number of Baganda (the largest tribe) like the guy a lot. He allowed the remains of their king, Kabaka Mutesa II who had died in exile in UK, to be brought back to Uganda.
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Idi Amin,how many wives did he have?
One of the Kenyan gals killed by Amin was called Chesire, I remember, around 1976. I think she was the daughter of the Moi-era assistant minister of the same name.
She was a sister to Zipporah Kittony. It is also believed that Amin’s henchmen Malaysiad Kung’u Karumba in UG.
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Why was Kung’u Karumba killed?
Very true.