Inside Amin's Uganda: more Africans murdered

Abstract

Some critics of General IdiAmin tend to equate his behavior with that of all Ugandans. Others find Amin' s actions typical of leaders of independent Africa. Neither of these statements is true. Thousands of educated Ugandans from the different ethnic groups - - Lango, Acholi, Baganda, Banyankole, and others - -share a feeling of abhorrence for the tragic events that have been occurring in their country. Many men of integrity, because they would not relinquish their principles, have lost their property, their positions, and sometimes, their lives. Others have been forced to mute their protests out of fear of what would happen to themselves, their wives, and their children. Too many people outside of Africa are far too hasty in denigrating Africa's past and present. Mr. M. Kiwanuka, an historian at Makerere University in Uganda, had occasion recently to observe that it was less than a decade ago when the Regius Professor of History at Oxford used his prestigious position to proclaim that there is no African history except "the unrewarding gyrations of barbarous tribes in picturesque but irrelevant corners of the globe. 11 As history only too well illustrates, given a certain set of circumstances, a dictator can emerge in any country. Although Amin' s adulation for Hitler's pogroms can only be deplorable, the practices of the Nazi fiihrer obviously do not reflect German thinking of today. Caution in drawing generalizations about African leadership, and some humility on the part of Europeans, An1ericans, and Russians as well, is appropriate. On the other hand, to condone General Amin' s acts because they are those of an African leader, or to condescendingly assume that the African continent is entitled to a double standard of judgment, would be racist thinking. Therefore, we publish this account of General Amin' s Uganda, as observed by a Uganda African inside the country, as part of what continues to be our eclectic coverage of Africa, both present and past.

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