He Said God Told Him to Expel Uganda’s Asians — Then Called It an “Economic War”

In 1971, Idi Amin seized power in Uganda through a military coup. Just one year later, he stood before his troops and announced a decision that would reshape the country forever.

Amin claimed that he had received a divine message in a dream telling him that Asians in Uganda were sabotaging the economy and that they had to leave. On August 4, 1972, he announced that Asian holders of British passports would have to leave within 90 days. The order was later expanded to include much of Uganda’s Asian population, including people with other nationalities.

Amin presented the policy as an “Economic War” designed to put Uganda’s economy into African hands. He accused Asians of economic exploitation, corruption and other abuses. But the policy also resulted in the seizure of businesses, farms and properties, while tens of thousands of people who had lived in Uganda for generations were forced into exile.

The episode raises a difficult historical question: when economic inequality is real, what happens when legitimate grievances become justification for collective punishment?

History is rarely as simple as heroes versus villains.

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Sources: UK National Archives; TIME, August 21, 1972; Cambridge University Press; PBS. #Uganda