The Expulsion
On 4 August 1972, Amin gave Uganda's Asians (mostly Gujaratis of Indian origin) 90 days to leave the country. The motivation for this remains unclear. Some of his former supporters suggest that it followed a dream in which, he claimed, God told him to expel them. Whatever the case, Amin defended this expulsion by arguing that he was giving Uganda back to the ethnic Ugandans:
We are determined to make the ordinary Ugandan master of his own destiny, and above all to see that he enjoys the wealth of his country. Our deliberate policy is to transfer the economic control of Uganda into the hands of Ugandans, for the first time in our country's history. —Idi Amin, quoted in Uganda: a modern history.Ugandan soldiers during this period engaged in theft and physical and sexual violence against the Asians with impunity. After their expulsion, the businesses were handed over to Amin's supporters.
Read more about this topic: Expulsion Of Asians From Uganda
Famous quotes containing the word expulsion:
“An aesthetic movement with a revolutionary dynamism and no popular appeal should proceed quite otherwise than by public scandal, publicity stunt, noisy expulsion and excommunication.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)
“The Expulsion from Eden is an act of vindictive womanish spite; the Fall of Man, as recounted in the Bible, comes nearer to the Fall of God.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)