Day America saved Kenya from Idi Amin, Barre

By Amos Kareithi

Kenya was a country literally under siege from her neighbours.

Relations with Uganda were sour, and Kenyans there were being targeted in large numbers.

Meanwhile, the border with Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s Tanzania had been closed, while Uganda’s Idi Amin was also persuading Somalia’s Siad Barre to his side.

Top secret minutes of meetings of Government officials and intelligence bosses show Kenya was literally on her own as her neighbours ganged up against her.

Even mundane issues were being blown out of proportion. In one meeting at Harambee House on August 26, 1977, participants wracked their brains over how to deal with a hostile Tanzania.

Apparently, a hyena had strayed into Nairobi Airport, and there were fears Tanzania would use the incident to portray Kenya in bad light. Participants drawn from the Office of the President, Foreign Affairs, Defence, the Special Branch and the Research Bureau ruled out inviting Tanzania for talks.

"Inviting Tanzania government officials to Kenya to hold discussions will give them an opportunity to use the outcome of the discussion for mudslinging," say the minutes.

It was noted Tanzania has said the incident of the visit to Nairobi Airport by a hyena recently confirmed their earlier statement that "the airport belonged to nyang’aos (hyenas)".

The intelligence committee further noted Tanzanian forces had at one point crossed the border in pursuit of Kenyans.

Such was the concern that at one point, intelligence officials resolved to muzzle Kenyan media, because Amin was verbally attacking Kenya on the grounds that bad stories were being published against him.

Soon after the Entebbe raid, Amin quickly telephoned his Somali counterpart, Siad Barre, inviting him to join him in a multi-prong attack against Kenya, which was viewed to be anti-communist.

The attack against Kenya was to be carried out exactly 24 hours (July 5, 1976) after the famous Entebbe rescue mission.

In the meantime, Tanzania, which was unhappy with Kenya’s financial policy, famously described by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere as a man eat man society, kept her borders closed.

According to The Daily Telegraph published on July 19, 1976, the details of the plot against Kenya were overheard by United States satellite tracking and communications station in the Indian Ocean Island of Diego Garcia. The Americans consequently dispatched P-3 Reconnaissance aircraft from the Diego Garcia Base, which was to report a build-up of Ugandan troops and armoured personnel at three points along the Kenyan border.

Quoting intelligence sources, the paper said a 60,000-tonne Ranger Aircraft carrier and four ships from the Seventh Fleet, sped through Singapore towards the East African Coast to answer to Kenya’s distress call.

At the same time, B-70 strategic bombers based in Spain were also ordered to make daily, high altitude flights over East Africa to monitor the Uganda troop movements.

A Ugandan soldier who had defected in 1975 stunned Kenya when he gave details of how Uganda and Somalia had planned to invade their neighbour to enable Amin secure permanent access to Kilindini Harbour.

On July 13, Ugandan Rangers strike aircraft had been sighted and a day later, Amin ordered troops at Karita and Busia border to withdraw.

As tensions flared, a crippling fuel shortage hit Uganda, which saw all civilian vehicles affected as all available supplies were reserved for the military in the event of war.

Around this time, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) warned the radar had detected 30 enemy aircraft believed to be Israeli and American.

"The military spokesman advises the public not to panic but keep an eye on any suspected Western spies. All medical services in Uganda should be on standby and the public are called upon to be prepared to donate blood for emergency purposes," UBC announced.

The warning further called on any Ugandan who noticed an enemy aircraft to use any weapon within their reach to speedily finish off the occupants because the enemy was known to be merciless.

Reconciliatory attitude

When Uganda decided not to use its military against Kenya, Amin wrote to the United Nations Security Council on July 25, accusing Kenya of blockading his country from July 4.

"In spite of the very reconciliatory attitude my government has taken over Kenya’s involvement in the Entebbe invasion, the Kenya authorities have by design ensured the vital imports such as oil products are not allowed to get to Uganda," Amin complained. He denied his country owed Kenya about Sh400 million accrued from nationalised assets of some of the estimated 312,000 Kenyans residing in Uganda in 1971, when Amin took over.

"What is happening is that Kenyan authorities are holding over 300 oil tankers between Nairobi and Eldoret and are now allowing to pass only one tanker of petrol per day. My government has had to limit supply of the little oil we have to very essential services," Amin complained.

In his letter addressed to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, and Organisation of African Unity Secretary General William Eteki Mbomoua, the Ugandan president claimed he attempted to talk to Kenyatta on telephone and had even sent messages over the Israeli invasion but to no avail.

The Uganda strong man was at his flamboyant best when he signed off the letter calling himself, Al-Hajji Field Marshal Dr Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, President of the Republic of Uganda.

In response, Kenya complained to the United Nations during a Security Council meeting on August 5, 1976, in New York, that it had been dragged unfairly into the Entebbe raid debacle.

The relationship between Kenya and Uganda remained strained at times exacerbated by the press, which referred to Amin in unflattering terms.

Kenya’s press

During a Kenya Intelligence Committee meeting held on January 27, 1978, and attended by among others Defence PS Jeremiah Kiereini and Special Branch boss James Kanyotu, it was observed Kenya’s press had not published any sensational material against Uganda.

In a similar previous meeting held at Harambee House on October 21, 1977, seven members of the Kenya Intelligence Committee resolved to muzzle the media.

"The committee resolved that if the press failed to refrain from unnecessary attacks on President Amin and continued to be unco-operative with the government, drastic action would be taken," read the minutes.

Foreign Affairs Minister Munyua Waiyaki told the international gathering in New York that Kenya had not assisted the Israelis in any way, adding that although it supported Palestine’s quest for liberation, she was opposed to use of force in diversion of civil aircraft as a means to solve a political problem. Waiyaki, however, declined to comment on this story.

After the UN Security Council meeting, Uganda and Kenya met in Nairobi from September 16 to 21, 1976 where they issued a joint communiquÈ binding them to stop their belligerency and threat to use force against each other as they pursued peaceful settlement through a six-nation OAU commission.

During the meeting, Kenya applauded Uganda for resuming electricity supply, which had been severed at the height of hostilities.

Uganda also dropped her claims of annexing part of Kenya while the two countries agreed to compensate for loss of life and all the property, which had been destroyed.