Amin admits to bid to kill him

Press, 6 July 1977, Page 8

Amin admits to bid to kill him

NZPA-Reuter Libreville,

President Idi Amin of Uganda has told the Organisation of African Unity conference that he escaped a recent Western-inspired assassination attempt and captured some of his would-be assassins.

It was his first confirmation of widespread reports of an attempt to kill him in Uganda last month. He disappeared from view for a week and later surfaced saying he had been on a belated honeymoon with his youngest wife, Sarah.

President Amin was again vigorously applauded as he appeared for the third session of the summit conference of the 49-nation organisation. He wore a dark-blue battle-dress studded with

medal ribbons, and a revolver. He gave no details of the assassination attempt, nor did he indicate during his ten-minute speech how many conspirators had been arrested or what their nationality was. A British businessman living in Uganda, Mr Robert Scanlon, who has been missing since early last month, was not mentioned. “I captured some of the people who tried to assassinate me,” President Amin said. “I have got them, and that will be debated later at the present meeting. “The whole Western press knew what was going to happen to me. They were sending people to Uganda to kill me, to Angola to kill President (Agostinho) Neto, to Benin to kill President (Mathieu) Kerekou, and to Guinea to kill President (Sekou) Toure.”