When people hear the name Uganda, many immediately think of Idi Amin, the military dictator whose rule during the 1970s became infamous across the world for brutality, repression, and political violence. Because of this, Uganda’s modern history is often reduced to and remembered through Amin alone, as if the country’s political crisis both began and ended with him. What many people either do not know, or simply do not pay much attention to, is the role played by the leaders before and after Amin. The governments of Milton Obote and later Yoweri Museveni were also deeply important in shaping the country’s modern political history.
Rather than viewing Amin as an isolated figure, it makes more sense to see Uganda’s post-independence history as a connected political chain. Obote helped create the conditions that allowed Amin to rise, while the conflicts that followed Amin’s fall eventually led to Museveni’s rise to power.
Part 1: Milton Obote and the Breakdown of Uganda’s First Government
Photo: Monitor. Milton Obote being sworn in as President of Uganda
Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. Following independence, Milton Obote became the Prime Minister as leader of the Uganda People’s Congress. However, the new country was politically fragile, as Uganda was not a completely unified state, but rather a collection of regions and traditional kingdoms brought together under colonial rule.
The most powerful of these kingdoms was Buganda, whose king (Kabaka), was Mutesa II. ¹ Buganda had enjoyed a semi-autonomous relationship with Britain during colonialism and wanted to preserve much of its independence even after Uganda became a sovereign country. This created growing tensions between the central government under Obote and Buganda’s monarchy. Between 1962 and 1966, Uganda attempted to balance parliamentary government with traditional monarchies, but the arrangement gradually failed. Obote viewed Buganda’s autonomy as a threat to national unity and to his own political authority. ²
The crisis reached its peak in 1966. Following accusations of corruption, political conspiracy, and internal power struggles, Obote suspended the constitution and ordered the army to attack the Lubiri palace in Kampala. The assault was led by a rising military officer named Idi Amin. After the attack, Mutesa II fled into exile in Britain. ²
Photo: Nile Post
Obote then declared himself executive president, transforming Uganda’s political system. Traditional kingdoms, including Buganda, were abolished in 1967 as Obote attempted to centralise power and weaken regional identities. Although the kingdoms would later be restored as cultural institutions in the 1990s, their political authority was removed.¹
During this period, Uganda increasingly moved toward authoritarian rule. Following an assassination attempt against Obote in 1969, opposition parties were banned and political dissent was heavily suppressed. ³ The military also became more influential within government, especially figures such as Amin himself. By the start of the 1970s, Uganda was already politically unstable long before Amin formally seized power.
Part 2: Idi Amin and the Collapse of the State
Photo: PBS
In January 1971, while Obote was abroad attending a Commonwealth conference in Singapore, Idi Amin overthrew the government in a military coup. At first, some Ugandans welcomed the coup, believing Amin might restore stability after years of political tension under Obote. ⁴ Instead, his regime quickly became one of the most infamous dictatorships in modern African history.
Amin’s government became associated with political killings, ethnic persecution, military purges, repression, economic collapse and rumours of cannibalism. ⁵ Most infamously, Amin expelled Uganda’s Asian community in 1972. Around 60,000–80,000 Asians, many of whom were of Indian or Pakistani descent and had lived in Uganda for generations, were ordered to leave the country within 90 days. Amin accused the community of economic disloyalty and exploitation, seizing businesses and property in the process. Many refugees fled to the United Kingdom, Canada and Kenya. The expulsion devastated Uganda’s economy, as much of the country’s commercial and industrial sector had depended heavily on the Asian population. ⁶
Photo: Hindu Perspective. Ugandan Asians being expelled in 1972
Meanwhile, Milton Obote fled into exile in neighbouring Tanzania. In 1972, Obote-backed forces attempted to invade Uganda with support from Tanzania, Ugandan exiles and rebel fighters, including guerrillas linked to Yoweri Museveni, an anti-Amin revolutionary. The invasion failed, and Amin responded with further crackdowns across the country. He executed members of the Acholi and Langi ethnic groups associated with Obote. ⁷
Following this, relations between Uganda and Tanzania continued deteriorating throughout the decade. In 1978, Amin invaded Tanzanian territory, expecting a quick military success. Instead, Tanzania launched a full-scale counteroffensive alongside Ugandan rebel groups. Tanzanian and anti-Amin forces captured Kampala in 1979, forcing Amin into exile and ending his regime. ⁸
Part 3: Obote’s Return and Museveni’s Rebellion
Photo: TRT World, YouTube
After Amin’s overthrow in 1979, Uganda did not suddenly become stable. The country would enter another chaotic transitional period, cycling through several short-lived governments before elections were eventually held in 1980.
Milton Obote returned to power after the disputed election, but many Ugandans believed the results had been manipulated. One of the strongest critics of the election was Yoweri Museveni, whose Uganda Patriotic Movement performed poorly in the vote. ⁹ ¹⁰ This connection is important because Museveni’s later rise to power was deeply tied to the chaos created by both Obote and Amin. He had already gained military experience during the anti-Amin struggle of the 1970s, and now viewed Obote’s return as a continuation of the same cycle of authoritarian politics and instability that Uganda had been trapped in since independence. ⁹
Claiming the 1980 election had been rigged, Museveni launched a guerrilla rebellion through his National Resistance Army (NRA), beginning a civil war against Obote’s second government. The conflict throughout the early 1980s became extremely violent, especially in central Uganda. Government counterinsurgency campaigns, rebel warfare, and massacres caused massive civilian suffering. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have died during this period, sometimes referred to as the Bush War. ¹¹
Photo: Eagle Online
In 1985, Obote was overthrown once again, this time by General Tito Okello, one of his own commanders. Obote fled into exile in Zambia. However, the conflict still did not end. Museveni refused to join Okello’s government, believing it represented another temporary military regime rather than genuine political change. NRA forces continued advancing toward Kampala, eventually capturing the capital in January 1986. ¹² Museveni then became president of Uganda, beginning a rule that continues to this day. Yoweri Museveni would go on to change the constitution to remove presidential term and age limits, which caused opposition groups to frequently accuse the government of repression and democratic backsliding. Museveni remains one of the world’s longest-serving national leaders.
Conclusion
When Uganda’s modern history is discussed internationally, the conversation usually begins and ends with Idi Amin. Yet focusing only on Amin ignores the wider political chain that shaped the country both before and after his rule. Milton Obote helped centralise state power and weaken Uganda’s fragile democratic foundations after independence. Amin emerged from that instability and transformed it into an outright military dictatorship. After Amin’s fall, the violence and political chaos continued during Obote’s second presidency, eventually leading to Yoweri Museveni’s rise through guerrilla war. Each presidency emerged from the failures of the previous era, and each reshaped Uganda in ways that continued long after they took power.
² The Journal of Modern African Studies
⁵ HISTORY
⁶ BBC News
¹¹ UPI
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