However, the Buganda Kingdom was almost ruined forever when Uganda's first post-independence Prime Minister Milton
Obote (later president) abolished it in 1966, almost destroying its palaces as well as one of the world's biggest royal mausoleums in the world--the Kasubi tombs, which reportedly date back to the 13th century and are the revered burial ground of the Kingdom's Kabakas (kings).
In fact, during Mazrui's tenure at Makerere, he gave several public lectures that criticized Presidents Milton
Obote and successor Idi Amin for violations of human rights and the rule of law.
Which military dictator overthrew Milton
Obote in Uganda in 1971?
During the next couple years,
Obote moved fitfully but steadily against the major opposition political party.
Arguably the tension in Northern Uganda dates back much farther to the rule of Milton
Obote and Idi Amin as many of the political alliances and grievances incurred during these periods shaped the formation of groups like the UPDF and the LRA.
In 1971, Idi Amin seized power in Uganda by ousting President Milton
Obote in a military coup.
EVENTS 1971: General Idi Amin, above, seizes power while President Milton
Obote is away on a foreign visit - troops seal off Entebbe airport.
As in most post-colonial African nations, tribalism caused a great deal of political and civil unrest and in 1966 Prime Minister Milton
Obote suspended the constitution and ruled by decree.
During his return visits, accompanied by his wife, in 1996 and 2000, he saw the country recovering, from the Amin amd
Obote years, under President Museveni.
Uganda became the site of brutal insurgency and counterinsurgency campaigns, particularly in the "Luwerua Triangle" area north of Kampala, during northerndominated governments led by Milton
Obote, Idi Amin,
Obote again, and finally Tito Okello.
Idi Amin became the third President of Uganda on 25 January 1971, overthrowing Milton
Obote.
This has helped the women's movement grow from a negligible and politically co- opted social presence under the
Obote regime, to 'one of the strongest mobilized societal forces in Uganda' (Aili Mari, Unpublished Manuscript).
