Milton Obote

Who is Milton Obote?

Apollo Milton Obote was born in Akokoro village in the Apac district of northern Uganda, the son of a Lango clan chief. After attending Makerere University, from which he was expelled for political activity, he moved to Kenya, joined the independence movement there, and later founded the Uganda People's Congress in Uganda. He became Uganda's first prime minister when the country gained independence in 1962, governing alongside Kabaka Mutesa II, who held the ceremonial presidency. In 1966, amid rising conflict with Buganda, Obote suspended the constitution and declared himself executive president, ruling until he was overthrown in a 1971 military coup led by his army commander Idi Amin, after which he lived in exile in Tanzania. He returned to power after contested 1980 elections for a second presidency, a period overshadowed by the brutal Ugandan Bush War against Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army and mass civilian deaths in the Luwero Triangle. Obote was overthrown a second time in 1985 and died in exile in Zambia in 2005.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Milton Obote" · Britannica, "Milton Obote, 1st President of Uganda" · BlackPast.org, "Milton Obote (1925-2005)"