VARIOUS: Uganda's first post-independence leader Milton Obote dies in exile

Record ID: 401912

  • Title: VARIOUS: Uganda's first post-independence leader Milton Obote dies in exile
  • Date: 11th October 2005
  • Summary: (BN17) KAMPALA, UGANDA (FILE - MAY 1962) (REUTERS) DR. MILTON OBOTE POSING AS NEWLY-ELECTED PRIME MINSTER OF UGANDA WITH CABINET MEMBERS (6 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7MVKDPC18JNGBIH0U1T0NJX2L
  • Story Text: Uganda's first post-independence leader Milton Obote died in exile in a South African hospital on Monday (October 10, 2005), a Ugandan government source said.
    "Obote died this evening in South Africa," the official said on condition of anonymity.
    Obote, 80, led the east African country to independence from Britain on October 9, 1962, but was twice forced into exile by the commanders of his own military.
    The cause of his death was not immediately clear, but he had been suffering from ill health for years.
    The former leader had been living in Lusaka, Zambia, for the last 10 years, but sought medical care in South Africa in recent weeks as his condition deteriorated.
    Obote named himself Uganda's president-for-life in April 1966 before being toppled by army chief Idi Amin five years later while attending a Commonwealth conference in Singapore.
    Amin went on to become one of Africa's most notorious dictators, and after he was ousted in 1979 by Ugandan rebels backed by the Tanzanian army, Obote was returned to power.
    But opponents said the 1980 election, the first for 18 years, was rigged in his favour, and guerrillas led by Obote's former aide Yoweri Museveni launched a bush war against him.
    Ill-disciplined government troops killed thousands of rebel "collaborators" in response, and when Obote refused to negotiate with Museveni, he was again forced out by his army chief, this time in a bloodless coup, in July 1985.
    Six months later, Museveni was sworn in as president.
    Museveni had said Obote was welcome to return home, but warned that he might have to face charges for atrocities carried out by troops against civilians in the early 1980s.
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