Uganda

Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa, bordered by Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Kampala. General Idi Amin seized power in a military coup on January 25, 1971, deposing elected President Milton Obote while Obote was out of the country. Amin ruled Uganda until April 1979, when Tanzanian forces and Ugandan exiles overthrew his regime following his invasion of Tanzania.¹

Idi Amin and the Israeli Relationship

Idi Amin's relationship with Israel followed a trajectory of initial warmth followed by total rupture. In the early years of his rule, Amin maintained friendly relations with Israel, which provided military training and support to the Ugandan armed forces. Israeli advisers, including Colonel Baruch Bar Lev, served in Uganda and reportedly had a role in the coup that brought Amin to power. Israeli-trained Ugandan parachute forces and Israeli military equipment were central to Amin's early military capability.

The relationship deteriorated after Amin pivoted toward the Arab world and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, who provided financial support and encouraged Amin's expulsion of Uganda's Asian community in 1972 (approximately 80,000 people, mainly of South Asian origin, were expelled). Amin expelled Israeli military personnel and advisers, broke diplomatic relations with Israel, and aligned Uganda with Palestinian causes.¹

The Entebbe Hostage Crisis

On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139, flying from Tel Aviv to Paris with a stopover in Athens, was hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-External Operations (PFLP-EO) and two members of the Baader-Meinhof Group (Wilfried Bose and Brigitte Kuhlmann). The aircraft was diverted to Benghazi, Libya, and then to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. Amin provided support to the hijackers and greeted them at the airport. The hijackers held 248 passengers, releasing those they identified as non-Israeli and non-Jewish, retaining 105 Israeli and Jewish passengers (and the French crew, who chose to remain voluntarily).

The hijackers demanded the release of 53 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, France, West Germany, Kenya, and Switzerland, threatening to kill the hostages beginning July 1.

Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres and Chief of Staff Mordecai Gur authorized a rescue operation. On July 4, 1976 - July 3 at Entebbe - Israeli special forces units including Sayeret Matkal landed at Entebbe under cover of darkness in four aircraft. The assault killed all seven hijackers, destroyed Ugandan military aircraft on the ground, and rescued 102 of the 105 hostages. Three hostages were killed during the rescue; one, Dora Bloch, who had been taken to a Kampala hospital before the raid, was subsequently murdered by Ugandan soldiers. The Israeli assault commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed - the only Israeli combat fatality. The operation is among the most studied special operations military raids in history.²

Post-Amin

Amin's regime was characterized by mass killings of ethnic and political opponents; estimates of deaths during his rule range from 100,000 to 500,000. Tanzanian forces invaded in 1978-1979 after Uganda attacked Tanzania's Kagera region; the Tanzanian advance captured Kampala on April 11, 1979, and Amin fled, eventually settling in Saudi Arabia, where he died on August 16, 2003. Milton Obote returned to power until his own overthrow in 1985, followed by Yoweri Museveni, who has governed Uganda since 1986.¹