Amin’s fine sense of survival

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33778, 26 February 1975, Page 19

Amin’s fine sense of survival

(Sy

DAVID MARTIN.

of the Observer Fereicu Neu s Service I

Few political leaders in modern history can have developed quite such a tine sense of survival as Uganda’s President, General Idi Amin. This month he has survived yet another attempt on his life. But nevertheless the indica-

tions are that the many lives of this unprediciable man are about to run out . . .

The latest attempt to kill him occurred as he was

driving in a four-car convoy on the Entebbe road back towards the capita’. Kampala. From a carefutiy-pte-pared ambush his CitroenMaserati was caught in a I vicious cross-fire. The car overturned and caught fire and the four officers in it all died. But the wily General once more survived. He had ■ switched to another car in the convoy, setting the four ; officers up as the target in ease the convoy was ambushed. Just how many assassination attempts General Amin has now survived is unknown. But there are known to have been at least seven since the first in December. 1972.

Also on that first occasion: an ambush had beer carefully laid. The General was' jin the southern frontier area | with Tanzania attending aj military exercise. He was to! :drive back without an escort ! along the road from Mutu-! jkula to Masaka on his way; ■to Kampala, i As his Mercedes car rounded a bend machineIguns opened up. The military driver and officer in the rear seat were killed outright. But General Amin had switched to a taxi a few miles earlier, setting another officer up as the decoy. From those confident early days after the January, 1971, coup d’etat, which brought him to power, when he rode around in an open Jeep, General Amin has become increasingly security j conscious. His plans are now j rarely announced in advance -and one Ugandan who made an upcountry tour with him

Isaia that he had switched te • five different vehicles during a 40-mile jeurney. During 1971 there are: known to have been at least s'.x plots to kill him. On i-.vo j occasions Air Force office’s • planned to snoot down fits plane. But on each occasion I details of their plans leaned ! n addition to all of these direct attempts cn h.s !i;e . he has survived an invasion. • from Tanzania by over lOto! • supporters ot the man he deposed. Dr Milton Obote. and several attempted) counter coups within the Army. In part, his remarkable j survival can be attributed to j security precautions such as icontinually changing cars. A further important factor is his Praetorian guard fol Sudanese mercenaries, members of his own West Nile h'akwa tribe and Palestinians, whose stake is that they stand or fall with him. But no-one can survive that many attempts against him without one other major factor — luck. And of this commodity General Amin has already had more than his fair share. All the indications are that it cannot continue much longer. According to three of his Ministers who have fled into exile at least 80,000 peoplehave been killed since he) came to power. “People who) consider Amin a hero of Africa do not look at the bloodshed in the country. There is no area in Uganda] where people have not been) killed. There is no clan in Uganda where blood has not been shed. To live with Amin is not to love him. He is feared but not a hero in .

Uganda " a Ugandan w rote after going into exile. ' Familv's iniporiawe One must understand ihe| import.:-• e of the family ir Africa understand the significance of this The ,murder of a relative de- • eday General Amin has I teraily tho >ands of bereaved relatives a id potentia! assassins on in-- hands Beyond this is the whole; economic plight of the ■ ration. By military expenditure. alien.:, n of aid) doners, the ejection of the Asians and disenchantment of the people he has reuuced Uganda almost to %iins Such basic commodities as salt, sugar, flour and so on are rarely available and even then only at < xorbitan* black market prices. There are no spare parts for cars, •few lorries are still working) to take crops t ■ markets. I civil servants ge unpaid lot j months because the feasury is empty. Adnvvhen his Fiance Minister warned him lin Cabinet that the country ; was nearly bankruet Generali Amin angrily slapped his face and told him to print more money. O.A.U. dilemma Outside Uganda in the independent black African States many leaders are: praying that the General! I will be removed in the next) • few weeks. The Organisation of African Unity has made the fateful blunder of agree-j [ ing to hold its next summit meeting in Kampala fromi July 28.

Nut onlv would it degrade OA.U to hodl .< sum i’t v >uld mean that Gen i.il (spokesman. At a ume when Arica is engaged in delicate negotiations to avoid full jem Africa it does not need If the summit were to go 1 African Juhus Nyerere of Tanzania Ken noth Kaunda if Zambia and General Yakuhu Gow on ot I Amin could persuade cun 10 Of the O.A U. S 43 leaders Many African leaders ate -desperately iook-ng tor an -excuse to m- • the summit | meeting elsewhere. Unrest -on the eve of it — possibly could provide just the excuse they want. But even better than that they would like to see the General removed. However, there is a complication to moving the sumimit meeting while he remains. Many obf -vers lx[lieve it is having the effect of minimising the killing in Uganda. If it were taken |awav from him that could i touch uff widespread slaughter. — O.F.N.S Copyright.