Milton Obote

(click to enlarge)
Milton Obote. (credit: Peter Kemp/AP)

(born Dec. 28, 1924, Akoroko village, Lango, Uganda — died Oct. 10, 2005, Johannesburg, S.Af.) First prime minister (1962 – 70) and president (1966 – 71, 1980 – 85) of Uganda. Elected to the Legislative Council in 1958, he led his country to independence in 1962. As prime minister, he accepted a constitution that granted federal status to five traditional kingdoms, including Buganda, but in 1966 he sent troops under Gen. Idi Amin to subdue Buganda's ruler, Mutesa II, and later abolished all the kingdoms. Obote was overthrown in a 1971 coup led by Amin, but, after Amin was deposed in 1979, Obote returned to Uganda and established a repressive government. He was again ousted in 1985 and eventually settled in Zambia.

For more information on Apollo Milton Obote, visit Britannica.com.

(b. Akoroko, Uganda, 1925) Ugandan; Prime Minister 1962 – 6, President 1966 – 71, 1980 – 5 A member of the Langi ethnic group from northern Uganda, he graduated from Makerere University, and formed the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), which broadly represented northern interests, in 1958. He became Prime Minister of a coalition government at independence in 1962, and gradually imposed his control both over his own party and over his coalition partners, relying increasingly on the army commanded by Idi Amin. In 1966, he arrested five of his ministers, suspended the constitution, deposed the President, and transferred all executive powers to himself. He pursued a socialist economic policy, and nationalist major companies, attempting to present himself as a populist through a programme called "The Common Man's Charter". In January 1971, he was deposed while abroad in a coup led by Amin, and went into exile in Tanzania.

As an old friend of Tanzanian President Nyerere, he was the main beneficiary of Tanzania's invasion of Uganda to oust Amin in 1978 – 9. He returned in 1980 to participate in elections which were rigged in his favour, and became President again in December. His second term of office was even less successful than the first. The northerners who controlled the army were split between ethnic factions, while Museveni's NRA was making increasing progress in the south. Brutal depopulation measures were taken especially against the NRA, with deaths possibly exceeding even the 300,000 under the Amin regime. Obote was however eventually overthrown by his ethnic rivals in the army in July 1985, six months before they in turn were ousted by Museveni. He fled to Kenya and later Zambia, where he continued to run the UPC from exile. His responsibility for Uganda's collapse was second only to Amin's.

Apolo Milton Obote (born 1925) was a Ugandan political leader who guided his country to independence in 1962. He worked to create a centralized government to replace the divided state left by the British, but his ruthless rule in the 1980s was marked by torture and repression and the killing of more than 100,000 civilians.

Milton Obote was born at Akokoro village in Lango territory in the northern part of the British Uganda Protectorate in 1925. He was the son of a poor local chief in the Lango tribe. He began his education in 1940 at the Lira Protestant Missionary School, continued it at Gulu Junior Secondary School and Busoga College, Mwiri, and finished it at Makerere College (1948-1950). Because the Buganda tribespeople who lived in southern Uganda dominated the economy, Obote went to Kenya to find work. He worked there first for an engineering firm and then for several industrial concerns. While in Kenya, he became interested in politics and was a founding member of the Kenya African Union.

Forging Independence

In 1956 Obote returned to Uganda. He entered politics when he was asked to return to the Lango district to replace a local Uganda National Congress party leader who had been imprisoned. In 1958, a sudden vacancy caused by the resignation of the Lango member of the Legislative Council led to Obote's appointment as a replacement. In Uganda's first direct elections later that year, Obote won the seat by a wide margin, and his rise in Ugandan politics was under way.

Obote soon became president of the Uganda National Congress party, one of many parties trying to forge a unity to bring Uganda independence. In 1960, Obote joined his organization to a rival party, thus founding the Uganda People's Congress; he became its president. When a 1961 conference provided for elections leading to independence, Obote allied his party to the Buganda party under Kabaka (King) Yekka in order to defeat Benedicto Kiwanuka's ruling Democratic party. The coalition gained a majority of the Ugandan votes, and Obote became Uganda's prime minister. He presided over British withdrawal in October 1962.

Failure to Unify Nation

But independence did not solve Uganda's problems. Buganda had been an ancient African kingdom, and British rule had left Buganda autonomous within the Uganda Protectorate. It was the most prosperous part of the country and home to Uganda's most educated elite. In accord with Uganda's constitution, agreed to by the British prior to independence, Obote appointed the ruler of Buganda to the largely ceremonial office of president of Uganda. But Bugandans were not willing to settle for less than a dominant place in the nation's politics, and Obote's alliance with Kabaka Yekka became increasingly unstable as friction grew between Buganda and the central government. The problem erupted into a crisis in 1966. Obote suspended the constitution, declared a state of emergency, and assumed full power. He introduced a new constitution, abolished Buganda and other kingdom-states within Uganda, and assaulted Kampala, the capital of Buganda under the leadership of General Idi Amin. The Bugandan king fled and died in exile in London.

In the late 1960s Obote tried to undermine the Bugandan economic power by moving the nation closer to socialism. In fact, he instituted authoritarian one-party rule but failed to unify the country. On Jan. 25, 1971, while Obote was out of the country on a diplomatic mission, Uganda's army under Amin ousted him from the presidency. Obote fled to Tanzania, and Amin for eight years instituted a bloody regime of terror and repression.

Second Regime of Terror

In 1979, an invasion aided by Tanzania overthrew Amin. After months of unsuccessful sectarian regimes, Obote won an election in 1980 which was widely believed to have been rigged. Obote's second regime continued Amin's terrorist tactics. Obote was opposed by the Bugandas, by the Acholi peoples of the north, and most importantly by a guerilla movement in the west, the National Resistance Army. Under Obote's direction, the Ugandan army tried to crush the guerillas by destroying entire villages and decimating the population. Amnesty International and other groups denounced Obote's police state and torture tactics, and he was charged with directing the killing of more than 100,000 civilians. In 1985, Obote was toppled in a coup and fled to Kenya. He was then granted political asylum in Zambia. His political career was over. Instead of being remembered as the leader of Uganda's independence movement, he left a legacy of totalitarianism and terror.

Further Reading

Obote's early career was chronicled in Ali Mazrui, Violence and Thought: Essays on Social Tensions in Africa (1968); A. J. Hughes, East Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania (1969). An earlier work on politics in Uganda was David E. Apter, The Political Kingdom in Uganda: A Study in Bureaucratic Nationalism (1961; rev. ed. 1967). A comprehensive history of Ugandan politics since independence and Obote's role is found in David Apter, "Democracy for Uganda: A Case for Comparison," in Daedalus (Summer 1995). Also see the A & E Biography website http://www.biography.com (August 13, 1997) for a brief profile.

Apolo Milton Obote
Obote in 1960
2nd Prime Minister of Uganda 1st Executive Prime Minister 8th President of Uganda
In office April 15, 1966 – January 25, 1971 December 17, 1980 – July 27, 1985
Preceded by	Mutesa II of Buganda (non-executive) (1966) Primier Commission of Uganda (1980)
Succeeded by	Idi Amin (1971) Bazilio Olara-Okello (1985)
2nd Prime Minister of Uganda 1st Executive Prime Minister
In office April 30, 1963 – April 15, 1966
Preceded by	Benedicto Kiwanuka (non-executive)
Succeeded by	None (post abolished)
Born	December 28, 1925(1925-12-28) Apac District, Uganda Protectorate
Died	October 10, 2005 (aged 79) Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Political party	Uganda People's Congress
Spouse(s)	Miria Obote

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Milton Obote in Leipzig, DDR, with Gerald Götting (right) and S. Oyaka (left) October 1960.

Apolo Milton Obote (December 28, 1925  – October 10, 2005^[1]), Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1985, was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from the British colonial administration in 1962. He ruled by harassing, terrorizing, and torturing opponents. Obote also started ethnic persecution. During Obote's regime, flagrant and widespread corruption emerged in the name of socialism. He was overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971, but regained power in 1980. His second rule was marred by repression, and the deaths of many civilians as a result of a civil war known as the Ugandan Bush War.

Contents 1 Early life and first presidency 2 Second term 3 Death in exile 4 Sources 5 References and notes 6 External links

Early life and first presidency

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Milton Obote was born at Akokoro village in Apac district in northern Uganda. He was the son of a local chief of the Lango ethnic group. He began his education in 1940 at the Protestant Missionary School in Lira, and later attended Gulu Junior Secondary School, Busoga College and eventually university at Makerere University. At Makerere, Obote honed his natural oratorical skills, but was expelled for participating in a student strike (Obote claimed he left Makerere voluntarily^[2]). He worked in Buganda in southern Uganda before moving to Kenya, where he worked as a construction worker at an engineering firm. While in Kenya, Obote became involved in the Kenyan independence movement. Upon returning to Uganda in 1956, he joined the political party Uganda National Congress (UNC), and was elected to the colonial Legislative Council in 1957.^[3] In 1959, the UNC split into two factions, with one faction under the leadership of Obote merging with Uganda People's Union to form the Uganda People's Congress (UPC).

In the run up to independence elections Obote formed a coalition with the Buganda royalist party, Kabaka Yekka. The two parties controlled a Parliamentary majority and Obote became Prime Minister in 1962. He assumed the post on April 25, 1962, appointed by Sir Walter Coutts, then Governor-General of Uganda. The following year the position of Governor-General was replaced by a ceremonial Presidency to be elected by Parliament. Mutesa, the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, became the ceremonial President, with Obote as executive Prime Minister.

Obote expelled the Kenyans in 1965.^[4]

As prime minister, Obote was implicated in a gold smuggling plot, together with Idi Amin, then deputy commander of the Ugandan armed forces. When the Parliament demanded an investigation of Obote and the ousting of Amin, he suspended the constitution and declared himself President in March 1966, allocating to himself almost unlimited power under state of emergency rulings. Several members of his cabinet, who were leaders of rival factions in the party, were arrested and detained without charge. In May the Buganda regional Parliament passed a resolution declaring Buganda's incorporation into Uganda to be de jure null and void after the suspension of the constitution.^{[citation needed]} Obote responded with an armed attack upon Mutesa's palace, which ended with Mutesa fleeing to exile. In 1967, Obote's power was cemented when Parliament passed a new constitution which abolished the federal structure of the independence constitution, and created an executive Presidency.

Obote's regime, described as "dictatorial and barbaric", terrorized, harassed, tortured people. Obote's secret police General Service Unit, led by Obote's cousin, was responsible for many cruelties.^[4]

Food shortages sent prices through the ceiling. Obote's persecution of Indian traders contributed to this.^[4]

In 1969 there was an attempt on Obote's life. In the aftermath of the attempt all opposition political parties were banned, leaving Obote as an effectively absolute ruler. A state of emergency was in force for much of the time and many political opponents were jailed without trial but life. In 1969-70 Obote published a series of pamphlets which were supposed to outline his political and economic policy. "The Common Man's Charter" was a summary of his approach to socialism. The government took over a 51% share in major private corporations and banks in the country in 1970.

During Obote's regime, flagrant and widespread corruption emerged in the name of socialism.^[4] The population increasingly hated Obote's rule.^[4]

In January 1971 Obote was overthrown by the army while on a visit to Singapore, and Amin became President. In the two years before the coup Obote's relations with the West had become strained. Some have suggested that Western Governments were at least aware of, and may have aided, the coup.^[5][6] Obote fled to Tanzania. The fall of Obote's regime was welcomed and celebrated by many Ugandans.^[4]

Second term

Main article: Uganda since 1979

In 1979, Idi Amin was ousted by Tanzanian forces aided by Ugandan exiles. By 1980, Uganda was governed by an interim Presidential Commission. At the time of the 1980 elections, the chairman of the commission was a close associate of Obote, Paulo Muwanga. Muwanga had briefly been the de facto President of Uganda from 12 May to 20 May in 1980. Muwanga was the third of three Presidents who served for short periods of time between Amin's ouster and the setting up of the Presidential Commission. The other two presidents were Yusuf Lule and Godfrey Binaisa.

The elections in 1980 were won by Obote's Uganda People's Congress (UPC) Party. However, the UPC Party's opposition believed that the elections were rigged and this led to a guerrilla rebellion led by Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA) and several other military groups.

It has been estimated that approximately 100,000 people died as a result of fighting between Obote's Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) and the guerrillas.^[7]

On 27 July 1985, Obote was deposed again. As in 1971, he was overthrown by his own army commanders in a military coup d'état. This time the commanders were Brigadier Bazilio Olara-Okello and General Tito Okello. The two men briefly ruled the country through a Military Council, but after a few months of near chaos, Museveni's NRA seized control of the country.

Death in exile

After his second removal from power, Obote fled to Tanzania and later to Zambia. For some years it was rumoured that he would return to Ugandan politics. In August 2005, however, he announced his intention to step down as leader of the UPC.^[8] In September 2005, it was reported that Obote would return to Uganda before the end of 2005.^[9]

Milton Obote's grave

On October 10, 2005, Obote died of kidney failure in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.^[10]

Milton Obote was given a state funeral, attended by president Museveni in the Ugandan capital Kampala in October 2005, to the surprise and appreciation of many Ugandans, since he and Museveni were bitter rivals.^[11] Other groups, such as the Baganda survivors of the "Luwero Triangle" massacres, were bitter that Obote was given a state funeral.^[12]

He was survived by his wife and five children. On November 28, his wife Miria Obote was elected UPC party president.^[13] One of his sons Jimmy Akena is a member of parliament for Lira Municipality.

Sources

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

References and notes

1. ^ Birth and death date according to the headstone inscription on his grave
2. ^ I come from royal ancestry, Published in The Monitor
3. ^ "The Roots, Emergence, and Growth of the Uganda Peoples Congress, 1600-1985", Yoga Adhola, UPC Website
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Mukasa Mutibwa: Uganda since independence: a story of unfulfilled hopes. p. 65-70
5. ^ George Ivan Smith, Ghosts of Kampala: The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1980)
6. ^ G. S. K. Ibingira , African Upheavals since Independence, Westview Press, ISBN 0891585850
7. ^ CIA Factbook - Uganda
8. ^ "Uganda's exiled ex-president Obote to retire from party's presidency", Xinhua, August 28, 2005
9. ^ "Uganda's exiled ex-president to return home before end of 2005", People's Daily Online, September 2, 2005
10. ^ [hghttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4328834.stm "Former Ugandan leader Obote dies"], BBC, October 10, 2005
11. ^ "Former foe mourns Uganda's Obote", BBC, October 20, 2005
12. ^ "A founding father adored, dreaded in equal measure", The Monitor
13. ^ "Walking in Obote’s shadow", Monitor, December 21, 2005

External links

• Obote Series - a series of articles and interviews published in The Monitor
• Amnesty International report on Uganda.
• UPC official Website

Political offices
Preceded by none	President of the Uganda People's Congress 1959–2005	Succeeded by Miria Obote
Preceded by Benedicto Kiwanuka	Prime Minister of Uganda 1962–1966	Succeeded by Otema Allimadi post abolished 1966–1980
Preceded by Edward Mutesa	President of Uganda 1966–1971	Succeeded by Idi Amin
Preceded by Presidential Commission of Uganda	President of Uganda 1980–1985	Succeeded by Bazilio Olara-Okello

v • d • e Presidents of Uganda Edward Mutesa II1 · Milton Obote · Idi Amin · Yusuf Lule · Godfrey Binaisa · Paulo Muwanga · Presidential Commission · Milton Obote · Bazilio Olara-Okello2 · Tito Okello · Yoweri Museveni 1 Non-executive 2 de facto

v • d • e Prime Ministers of Uganda Benedicto Kiwanuka · Milton Obote · post abolished 1966-80 · Otema Allimadi · Paulo Muwanga · Abraham Waligo · Samson Kisekka · George Cosmas Adyebo · Kintu Musoke · Apolo Nsibambi

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Persondata
NAME	Obote, Milton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Obote, Apollo Milton Opeto
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and from 1980 to 1985
DATE OF BIRTH	December 28, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH	Apac District, Uganda
DATE OF DEATH	October 10, 2005
PLACE OF DEATH	Johannesburg, South Africa

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