Dr Henry ,Idi Amin Minister Of Health
To understand Amin's reign of terror it is necessary to realize that he was not an ordinary political tyrant. He did more than murder those whom he considered his enemies: he also subjected them to barbarisms even after they were dead. These barbarisms are well attested.
It was common knowledge in the Ugandan medical profession that many of the bodies dumped in hospital mortuaries were terribly mutilated, with livers, noses, lips, genitals or eyes missing. Amin's killers did this on his specific instructions; the mutilations follow a well-defined pattern. After Gofrey Kigala was shot in 1974, his eyes were gouged out and his body was partially skinned before it was dumped outside Kampala. Medical reports on deaths of Shaban Nkutu, Lt.Col Ondoga etc stated that the bodies had been cut open and that a number of internal organs had ben tampered with.
Kyemba (State of Blood). Amin kept thorough surveillance on Ugandans through five repressive organs that were either ccreated in Obote's period and then recreated and given new names by Amin himself, or founded after January 1971. Amin replaced the General Service Unit with a similar intelligence organ called the Bureau of State Research. Located at Nakasero near what had been Obote's official Kampala residence, the bureau used the same house, headquarters, and surveilance equipment as those used by the deposed president. Amin also established the Public Safety Unit in 1972 ostensibly to curb Kondo-robbery with violence- but in reality to give security personnel an opportunity to arrest enemies of the regime. Its headquarters were at Naguru Police Training School. The Military Police, created under Obote, was expanded.
Makindye, its headquarters, became notorious as a slaughterhouse in Amin's time. As the economy worsened, another paramilitary unit, the Antismuggling Bureau, was created under Bob Astles. It accused successful businessmen of smuggling and hoarding.These repressive agencies helped Amin gather intelligence on his enemies and survive in office. Although their methods were crude, they succeeded by not taking chances: any suspect was instantly presumed guilty and eliminated. Between January and August 1972, for example, in a wave of intensified political violence, political prisoners who had been locked behjind bars because of their presumed opposition to the Amin regime were all killed. Most were members of the police, the GSU, and the Civil Service who had served Obote with loyalty, including the bracss of the Police Central Intelligence Department, which had investigated Amin's part in the murder of Brigadier Okoya.
The victims included Mohammed Hassan. The chief of CID. Festus Wawuyo, his deputy, and Ocungi, another deputy in the CID. Twenty Acholi/ Langi Military bandsmen who had been arrested and put under the care of Major Hussein Marella in December 1971 were also killed in this period, reportedly on Amin's orders.
Hundreds of innocent people were trapped in a vicious circle of violence. All the members of these paramilitary units used violence for their own selfish motives: the demarcation line between offically sponsored and private violence was very thin.
Thousands of people in Uganda were tortured by government agents. Detainees might be made to go through humiliating muscular ordeals such as 'hopping like a frog' while being beaten.
The victim's eyes might be g ouged out and left hanging out of their sockets. During the 'wheel torture,' the victim's head was put in a wheel-rim that was repeatedly struck with iron bars. People were beated with hammers, mallets, or iron bars to break their limbs as well as kill them. Wires were attached to the victim's genitals, nipples, or other sensitive parts of the body and then connected to an electric battery or wall socket. Women were raped or otherwise sexually abused. Prisoners were slashed with knives and bayonets, body organs were mutilated and limbs cut off. Prisoners might be lined up and every second one would be ordered to hammer the first to death, the second one would be ordered to hammer the first to death, the second would be hyammered by the thrid, and so on, until only one was left to tell the tale to other prisoners.
Such incidents often happened at Makindye prison. There were by no means the only forms of torture; theyere were many others.Important or prominent people were killed like other prisoners. However, their bodies were dismembered and parts used for ritual purposes. For example, the head of Brigadier Suleiman Husein, who was killed at Makindye, was cut off and taken to Amin, who is reported to have addressed it and kept it in a fridge. The penis of Colonel Mesesura Arach, commander of the First Infrantry, was severed and plugged into his mouth. Few victims were given a proper burial. Their bodies were thrown into rivers (such as the Nile at karuma, Jinja and other places), Kioga, Wamala, etc.), in mass graves,or burnt in their houses or cars.
Michael Kagwa's body was left in his burnt car as was the body of Father Clement Kiggundu, editor of Munno, a daily. Robert Scanlon (fourth from left) carrying Amin, went missing shortly after this event. Like the hundreds of thousands murdered by Amin and his regime, his body has not been recovered, does anybody know what happened to him? Why was he murdered? Where are his remains?Please see appeal by his daughter hereunder.My father, Robert (Bob) Scanlon went murderedormissing (MoM?) in Uganda in 1977.
This was during the Idi Amin years. I just wonder does any one out there have any information which might help to discover what happened to him and why?My brother said he was told petrol was poured on my father in a room at the state research bureaux and he was set on fire.
My brother did not feel that this was the truth. In the first few weeks after the 1971 coup d'etat, Amin set about eliminating suspected opponents in the army. While Obote used the 1967 Detention Act to lock his opponents in prisons where they were 'well treated.'
Amin killed them. Such was the fate of various high-ranking officers known or perceived to be his opponents. There were mass killings of members of the GSU, the Special Force, Police, Prisoners and civilians.
Victims were abducted by loyal security men, put on trucks and taken to prisons like Luzira, Makindye, Mutukula, and Jinja, which had been turned into slaughterhouses. Amin consolidated his base in the army by using his own ethnic groups. In march 1971 more than thirty Acholi/ Langi soldiers were dynamited at Makindye Barracks.
On 22 July 1971 about 150 to 500 Acholis and Langi from Simba Battalion, Mbarara, were hearded into trucks, taken to an isolated ranch, and gunned down. On going to Israel and Europe in July 1971, Amin gave orders for the eliminati on of the Langi and Acholi soldiers fearing they might organize a coup. At Mbarara soldiers from these ethnic groups were separated from the rest and taken to their deaths. On 9 July 1971 about twenty new Acholi/Langi recruits were killed; more died the following day. Between 10 and 14 July 1971 some fifty Acholi/ Langi soldiers were killed at Magamaga Ordnance Depot.
Further massacres of these ethnic groups occurred at military barracks at Masindi, Soroti, and Kitgum. On 5 February 1972, about 117 soldiers and other security men of the Obote regime were mowed down as they tried to escape. Amin based his support in the armyon the Kakwa and Nubi, with the former Anyanya Zairean and Sudanese forming the nucleus to which were attached other West Nile groups like the Madi, the Lugbara, and the Alur. Other individuals were bound to Amin or his lieutenants on a clientele basis, including Smartus Guwedeko. Francis Itabuka, Kassimu Obura, and many others.
His political fortunes began to decline when he narrowed his base by gradually trimming th larg West Nile support in the army. From 1971 to 1972 the Alur were gradually marginalized.
Lieutenant Colonel Valentine Ochima, an Alur with a following in the army, was imprisoned in July 1971 and shot the following year. After the 1972 invasion of Uganda by Ugandan exiles, Alurs were removed from most strategic positions. The turn of the Madi came in late 1972. Amin accused all Madi of drunkenness and removed them from sensitive positions. He then called in Madi elders to explain to them the crimes of 'their sons'. Pruning of the Lugbara began in early 1972.
Dr Henry Idi Amin Minister Of Health Sciences
Their 'son,' Obitre-Gama, was dismissed in march as Minister of Internal affairs, brought back in a minor portfolio and again dismissed in mid 1973. Another Lugbara, Lieutenan Colonel Ondoga, the ambassador to Moscow, was recalled and made minister of Foreign Affairs. He was later publicly dismissed and his bod y was found floating in a river.
Dr Henry Idi Amin Minister Of Health 2017
Many Lugbaras were killed at this time. Amin dismissed his Lugbara wife, though he took the opportunity to divorce two more from other ethnic groups as a show of 'tribal impartiality.'
By 1975 the Kakwa-Nubi-Anyanya core had closed ranks and was the foundation of Amin's power machine. They held most of the strategic positions, manned key installations, and easily grouped whenever there was trouble. The other alienated West Nile groups did not fight Amin because they rightly judged that it was not in their interest to overthrow him. If he were overthrown, they would be punished for their natural association with him.
Subsequent events have proved them right: the Acholi/Langi militia brutalized the whole population of West Nile in 1980-83 for being associated with Amin on ethnic basis.Source: The Social Origins of Violen ce in Uganda 1964-1985. The Sad Demise of Theresa Nanziri BukenyaIt was on the evening of June 22nd 1976 when Idi Amin's regime committed a heinous act.
Theresa Nanziri Bukenya, then a warden of Africa Hall at Makerere University, was picked from her residence by men from the dreaded State Research Bureau. Two days later Nanziri's dead body was found with bullet wounds on the neck, at River Ssezibwa. Nanziri had joined along list of others who suffered cold death at the hands of Idi Amin.Bear in mind that she was 7 months pregnant at the time of her murderWho was Nanziri? Could your father have done things differently to avoid death or having confrontations with Idi Amin and to what extent should religious leaders get involved in politics?Amin and his men were terrible people. Just seeing you drive a beautiful car; you are dead. If his soldiers liked your house, they would kill you.
So, I don't know the kind of answer I can give but I know he handled it well because Amin would kill for any reason.There was no rule of law. Every religious leader is like I and you. They can comment about political issues whenever they get an opportunity because like any other Uganda, they should ask questions about political decisions in the country. Joseph Kiwanuka had the dubious distinction of being killed by Idi Amin himself. First, however, he was kept in Makindye Prison/barracks for several days of torture.
On the day of his execution, Amin and a top official named Malire determined to beat him to death with hammers. They intended to drag out the ordeal and prolong his suffering, but as Joseph began to pray out loud for the forgiveness of their sins, Amin went into an uncontrollable rage, grabbed a nearby sledge hammer, dashed out his brains.
According to Jane Mukasa Sserunjoji, prior to the kidnap of Nanziri, the same men from State Research Bureau had picked up Nanziri's best friend and cousin, Frugence Musok e who they allegedly used as bait to take away Nanziri from her residence without resistance or attracting attention from University students. Musoke then an accountant with East African Development Bank has never been seen again and relatives believe he was also killed. The kidnap and murder of Nanziri followed many other unexplained incidents at Makerere University that put Amin's regime under a magnifying glass.