Milton Obote

Apollo Milton Opeto Obote
2nd Prime Minister of Uganda 1st Executive Prime Minister
In office April 30, 1962 – April 15, 1966
Preceded by	Benedicto Kiwanuka (non-executive)
Succeeded by	None (post abolished)
2nd President of Uganda 1st Executive President 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) Presidential Commission of Uganda (1980)
Succeeded by	Idi Amin (1971) Bazilio Olara-Okello (1985)
Born	December 28 1924(1924-12-28) Apac district, Uganda
Died	October 10 2005 (aged 80) Johannesburg, South Africa
Political party	Uganda People's Congress
Spouse	Miria Obote

Apollo Milton Opeto Obote (December 28 1924 – October 10 2005), 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 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 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

Early life and first presidency

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 oratorial skills, but was expelled for participating in a student strike (Obote claimed he left Makerere voluntarily^[1]). 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.^[2] 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 runup 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, with Sir Walter Coutts as Governor-General of Uganda. The following year the position of a British 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. 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. Obote responded with an armed attack upon Mutesa's palace, which ended with Mutesa fleeing into exile. In 1967 Obote cemented his power by getting Parliament to pass a new constitution which abolished the federal structure of the independence constition and created an executive Presidency. 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. The years of Obote's rule as President from 1966 to 1971 were on the whole quiet years in Uganda's history. A state of emergency was in force for much of the time and many political opponents were jailed without trial but life for ordinary citizens was quite uneventful. Economic growth was good for most of this time. 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. A proposal on new election procedures was supposed to end tribalism (allegiance to ancient nations which were incorporated into Uganda), this was interrupted by a coup and on Obote's return to power was not mentioned again. The government took over a 51% share in major private corporations and banks in the country in 1970. Obote's regime after 1966 was openly dependent on control of the army. Idi Amin, who sided with Obote in 1966, was rewarded by promotion to Army commander, despite his near-illiteracy and the availability of trained officers. Starting in 1969 strains became visible between the two. 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. Published works on the coup have asserted that Western Governments were at least aware of, and may have aided, the coup. (See George Ivan Smith "Ghosts of Kampala" and Grace Ibingira "African Upheavals") Obote fled to Tanzania

Second term

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.^[3] 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.^[4] In September 2005, it was reported that Obote would return to Uganda before the end of 2005.^[5]

On October 10, 2005, Obote died of kidney failure in a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.^[6] 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.^[7] Other groups, such as the Baganda survivors of the "Luwero Triangle" massacres, were bitter that Obote was given a state funeral.^[8] He was survived by his wife and five children. On November 28, his wife Miria Obote was elected UPC party president.^[9]

References

Further reading

• 'The Rise and Fall of Grace Ibingira," by Andre de la Rue published in the New African: the radical review, imprint Cape Town, December 1966/207
• Obote--a political biography,” by Kenneth Ingham, published by Routledge, London & New York, 1994.
• "The Gold Allegations in Uganda," Mujaju, A.B. published by African Affairs, Volume 87 No. October, 1987.
• "Myths and Realities -- A Letter to a London Friend," (dated 16 November 1968) by A.M. Obote; published by African Publishers Ltd. Kampala, Uganda
• "British Intelligence and Covert Action: Africa, Middle East, and Europe since 1945," by Bloch, J. and Fitzgerald, P; published by Brandon, Dublin 1982.
• "Party and Locality in Northern Uganda, 1945-1962," by Cherry Gertzel, published by Athelone Press, London,1974.
• "Notes on Concealment of Genocide in Uganda," by A. M.Obote, Lusaka, Zambia published on UPC website.
• "The Common Man's Charter," Entebbe by A.M. Obote published by The Government Printer, Entebbe, Uganda, 1969.
• "Time to Declare," by David Owen published by Viking Penguin, New York; M. Joseph, London; 1991.
• "General Amin," by David Martin published by Faber & Faber, London, 1974.
• "The Desecration of My Kingdom," by Edward Mutesa published by Constable, London, 1967.
• "How the West Established Idi Amin and Kept Him There," by Hutton, Pat & Bloch, Jonathan. in Ray, E. & others, "The CIA in Africa: Dirty Work 2,"New Jersey, Lyle Stuart Inc, 1979.
• "Ghosts of Kampala," by George Ivan Smith; published by St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1980.
• "The political development of Uganda: 1900-1986" by T.V. Sathyamurthy; published by Aldershot, Hants, England; Brookfield, Vt., USA: Gower, 1986.
• "Ideology and politics in Uganda: from Obote to Amin," by James H. Mittelman; published by Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y, 1975.
• "Apolo Milton Obote and his times," by A.G.G. Gingyera-Pinycwa; published by NOK Publishers, New York, 1978.
• "Thoughts of an African Leader, 'quotable quotes from the speeches of his Excellency, the President of Uganda, Dr Apolo Milton Obote (compiled by the Education Department of Uganda Argus) published by Longman (Uganda) Ltd. Kampala, 1970.
• "Obote, second liberation," by Vijay Gupta, published by Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1983.
• "From Obote to Obote," by Akena Adoko; published by Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1983.
• "Gold Crisis in Uganda," by Akena Adoko; published by Vikas, New Delhi,1985.
• "The Making of a President, Uganda Style," by Edward R.F. Sheehan, New York Times Magazine, January 22, 1967 pages 36-37.
• "East Africa," volume 40 number 2 (1968)by William P. Lineburry; publisher: H.W. Wilson Company, New York.
• "The political leadership of Obote in Uganda and Nyerere in Tanzania," (M.A. Dissertation/thesis, Utah State University, USA, 1971) by Hassam, Bahdurali Ahmed.
• "Mazrui, A.A. "Leadership in Africa: Obote of Uganda," in International Journal, Volume One number 3 of June 1970.

External links

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

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

•  • e Presidents of Uganda
Edward Mutesa II • Milton Obote • Idi Amin† • Yusufu Lule • Godfrey Binaisa • Paulo Muwanga† • Presidential Commission • Milton Obote • Bazilio Olara-Okello† • Tito Okello† • Yoweri Museveni † military

•  • 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

•  • e Uganda-related topics
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Culture | Religion	Demographics · Education · Languages · Healthcare Roman Catholicism · Church of Uganda · Islam · Judaism · Hinduism
Geography	Cities and towns · Districts · Counties · National parks
Politics | Presidents	Foreign relations · Human rights · Political parties  |  Edward Mutesa II · Milton Obote · Idi Amin · Yusufu Lule · Godfrey Binaisa · Paulo Muwanga · Bazilio Olara-Okello · Yoweri Museveni