Tanzania troops inspect wreckage of UAAF aircraft at Entebbe airport in mid-April 1979.
The commemoration of this Holy Easter week coincides with the 43rd anniversary of the fall of the former President, the late Iddi Amin Dada in 1979.
As Good Friday and later Easter was being celebrated, the Tanzanian People’s Defense Forces-TDF had taken over Entebbe in what has been popularly known as the battle of Entebbe. Kampala had fallen by Wednesday, April 11th, 1979 of the holy week.
Several Ugandans whose memory of the last days of President Idi Amin’s regime cannot resist recalling the amalgamation of joy, chaos and sad moments that characterized that Easter.
One such person is Rev Fr Charles Lwanga Ssengendo, who was a candidate for the diaconate studying at Ggaba National Seminary at the time TDF put Amin’s eight-year rule to a stop.
Rev Fr Ssengendo notes that given the events of that month, very few Ugandans if any, could have had decent Easter celebrations or even attended church service or mass on that day.
Currently, heading the archives of Kampala Archdiocese, Rev Ssengendo, who was the last personal secretary to Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala wondered how time has passed upon looking at the calendar.
“It’s like a déjà vu; if I am to recall, the holy week falls on closely similar dates like that of this year. Easter was on (April) 15th but Kampala had fallen on (April) 11th, that is Wednesday of the holy week. On Good Friday (Prof Yusuf) Lule was sworn in as the new president,” Rev surrounded by old files and books noted as he recollected the events.
This year, Easter Sunday falls on April 17. Many people who were around that time attest to the fact that although there was excitement in the country following the announcement of the fall of the brutal regime, the celebrations were low key.
Moses Kulabako,76, a resident of Entebbe says that they were not allowed to observe the public way of the cross not even from within the precincts of their churches. He explains that it wasn’t safe and many people had either sought refuge inside the church or hid in bushes.
Just like Kulabako recollects, Expedito Kakande, a resident of Lunyu says that the holy week of that year started when Entebbe had fallen into the hands of TDF. The Tanzanian troops had bombarded and encircled Entebbe for three days from April 5 to April 7, 1979.
“Right from Palm Sunday, all you could see were Tanzania forces alias abakoombozi as they were named by the locals. Some Amin soldiers were still fighting back. It was during the holy week that those who had captured Entebbe moved towards Kampala. We saw death at Kasubi, soldiers were massacred,” Kakande said.
Indeed, it was a massacre, Uhuru- a Tanzania newspaper noted that over 400 Libyan soldiers had been killed a few days back let alone Ugandan soldiers and civilians. Clad in a grey t-shirt and khaki trousers, Kakande could visibly get lost in thoughts during the interview recalling the friends he lost during the war.
Taking a deep sigh, he said that while the holy week started with chaotic events and bloodshed, there was some relief after the fall of Kampala and the eventual swearing-in of prof Yusuf Lule as President on Good Friday.
In Kampala, Palm Sunday was a cold day as the war intensified with the liberators putting up a strong fight that later paid off when they captured most of the city on April 11. Extracts from Musizi magazine issue of April/May show that after the fall of Kampala many town dwellers captured in pictures were students from Makerere University.
The writer noted that in some areas, shops had been stripped bare following the capture of Kampala by the Tanzanian army and exiled Uganda National Liberation Army-UNLA largely comprising Ugandan exiles. Radio Uganda broadcast appeals to citizens to halt the wave of looting, which had swept the capital.
On Easter Sunday, Christians, mainly in Kampala, flocked churches to give thanks for Idi Amin’s downfall. The records for the entire week could not be traced in the archives of Kampala Archdiocese. But Reuters news agency captured the events at Lubaga cathedral.
During his Easter sermon, Emmanuel Cardinal Nsubuga equated the looting in Kampala to that in the city of ancient Jerusalem after it was ransacked by the Romans. “City’s Treasury is empty, food is scarce, and medical supplies are urgently needed,” the Reuters quoted the cardinal.
Another report from the New York times indicates that even amid the Easter celebrations, there were moments of terror as Tanzanian troops dragged a barefooted man out of the Easter service in a church “near the center” saying that he was from the deposed President’s tribe and perhaps a member of the dreaded State Research Bureau.
There are also records indicating that many people whose loved ones had disappeared also spent the Easter weekend at the headquarters of Idi Amin’s secret police where dozens of bodies had been discovered.
Prof Ephraim Kamuntu, one of the civilians who supported the liberation from Nairobi, says that with a few people celebrating the fall of the regime, many must have been praying for relatives or friends who were still missing.
To him, it could have been a bitter Easter holiday in many homes most especially in areas beyond the new government’s control, where lawless gangs of Amin’s troops are said to have been roaming about, killing and looting.
Prof Kamuntu says that although Kampala had been captured, the war was not yet over. “Actually it wasn’t until June, and there was scepticism that the ousted Amin and his men could counter attacker,” he said. Prof. Kamuntu said that some people feared being seen celebrating publically in fear of what could happen to them in the event Amin returns.
The Church of Uganda Provincial Secretary Rev. Canon William Ongeng, then a seventeen-year-old living in Lira town, says people were happy after receiving the news of the fall of the regime but no one could publicly express this happiness.
Unlike Kampala, where people were celebrating, in northern Uganda towns which were still under the control of Amin’s men, locals had to be extra careful. Rev. Canon Ongeng, however, notes that Christians could not resist performing Easter traditions.
He says that on Easter Eve, some Christians visited their friend’s homes to sing Easter songs and share gifts but a few got the guts to attend the church that night and on Easter Sunday.
Esther Amooti, 70, whose family lived near Masindi barrack describes the week as the worst in her entire life as they spent it running and hiding for their dear lives.
Although some people had recollections of the situation of that holy week, many others interviewed like Ceci Mary Nyugu, said they didn’t have to think about Easter as they were looking for safe havens if they were to celebrate more other “Easters” in future.
Nyugu, who was 27-years at the time and a teacher at St. Theresa Primary School had spent some years living in apartments a few meters from State House. However, when the Tanzanian troops attacked Entebbe, she fled the peninsular together with her children.
-URN
