Why Uganda’s Idi Amin rejected Jomo’s free flight offer from Nairobi

President Jomo Kenyatta says kwaheri to his Ugandan counterpart Gen Idi Amin as he flew back to Uganda. (File, Standard)

The bombastic general could not have come calling at a worse time. The atmosphere in the region was toxic, akin to a party where guests hold on to their drinks even in the washroom for fear of being poisoned.

General Idi Amin, the President of Uganda, went where he pleased, without any diplomatic shackles. However, when his commodore twin-engine private jet developed mechanical problems on his way to Entebbe from Ethiopia, he detoured to Nairobi.