Happy Independence Day to colleagues & friends in Uganda.

Here's the original version of the anthem by George Kakoma. The 1st phrase was 'Oh Uganda, thy people praise thee'. A week before independence, tho, the Church of Uganda bishop protested that God was nowhere mentioned. 1/ 2/
Milton Obote hastily agreed to change the phrase to 'May God uphold thee'. The new version had to be printed in great haste. It is the latter phrase that Ugandans will be singing today.

Here's a photo of the independence celebrations, October 1962.

Like many others, I am sorry to hear of the passing of journalist and public intellectual John Nagenda.

His was an extraordinary life. Here's a short thread. 1/

(Below: Nagenda in 1989, courtesy @GettyImages). @GettyImages 2/
Late Nagenda's parents were William and Sala Nagenda, who were--with Simeon Nsibambi--the central figures in the early history of the East African Revival.

Here's William Nagenda with colleague Yosiya Kinuka in 1936.

The father of new British PM--Rishi Sunak--was born in Kenya & emigrated to London in the 1960s. He was one of several thousand Asians who fled in the years after independence, seeking financial security. Short thread.

Here's Tom Mboya, Minister for Economic Planning, 1968. 1/ Mboya: while some Asians have left, 'I wld rather have that than have disloyal, disaffected people...who are not prepared to cooperate in promoting nation-building'.

In 1969 the Trade Licensing Act barred Asians from owning important businesses in & outside Nairobi.

Kenyans go to the polls on Tuesday. Here's a thread about one of the contenders for the presidency, @RailaOdinga. In the 1980s & 90s he played a key role in bringing down the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi.

Below: Raila speaks at a convention of opposition leaders, 1992. 1/ @RailaOdinga 2/
Raila married Ida Betty Akoth Oyoo in September 1973. She was to play a key role in his political career: as an advocate, a defender of his liberty, a spokesperson, and a public face--at a time when Raila himself was in detention & out of view.

Fifty years ago, on 4 August 1972, Idi Amin announced that Uganda's Asian community--over 50,000 people--had 90 days to leave the country.

Here he is at 'Command Post' in Kololo on 6 August, explaining the policy to the diplomatic corps.

Short thread. 1/ 2/
'One’s mind boggles at the thought of the effects of the sudden withdrawal of all Asians from Ugandan life', wrote a British diplomat a few days after the announcement. 'Practically everything one can think of has Asian somewhere in the system'.

Here's a @GettyImages report.

On 20 Aug. 1968 250,000 soldiers from the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, putting an end to the 'Prague Spring'.

The invasion caused outrage in eastern Africa. Here students in Tanzania lob rotten eggs at the Soviet embassy--& express sympathy to the Czech ambassador. 1/ 2/
In Kenya students marched to the Soviet embassy, carrying signs calling the invasion 'An Act of Imperialism of the Vilest Decree'. Other signs: 'Russians Go Home' & 'New Hitlerism'.

This is Mme. Pauline Lumumba on 19 January 1961. With a small group of supporters she had just marched to the United Nations headquarters in Leopoldville, demanding UN help for the return of the body of her murdered husband, Patrice Lumumba.

Short thread on Pauline Lumumba. 1/ 2/
On 17 Jan. Lumumba--arrested by Gen. Mobutu--was famously handed over to secessionists in Katanga & their Belgian backers, who murdered him.

On hearing her husband's fate, Mme. Lumumba marched to the UN headquarters--baring her breasts--to demand help & recognition.

Today is Mashujaa Day in Kenya. It marks Operation Jock Scott, when British police arrested activists they saw as leaders of Mau Mau.

The writer Gakaara wa Wanjau was arrested that day & detained for 8 years. Here's a page from the diary he kept while in detention. 1/ 2/
More than 150,000 people were held in Mau Mau detention camps during the 1950s.

Gakaara was held in several camps: Takwa on the coast, Athi River near Nairobi, then Hola. His wife, Shifra, was held in Kamiti.

Here's the published version of the diary.

The 'Shifta War' was an inhumane conflict fought in northern Kenya between 1963 and 1967. Short thread.

The conflict pitted Jomo Kenyatta's KANU government--which insisted on the unity of Kenya--against Somali secessionists. Here's a clip from Mandera & Wajir, Aug. 1967. 1/ 2/
Secessionists saw the Northern Frontier District as a part of Somalia & predicted a unitary Kenya would bring 'oppression, servitude, civil war and other evils'.

Clip: Northern Province People’s Progressive Party resolves not to participate in Kenya's elections, March 1963.

John Babiiha was a veterinarian, a politician, & one of the great survivors of Uganda's history.

Here he is in Sept. 1968, at the second anniversary celebration of the founding of Uganda's republican government. With him was the CO of the Uganda Army, Gen. Idi Amin.

Thread. 1/ 2/
Babiiha entered public life in the 1950s as the treasurer of the Tooro Kingdom.

Here he is in 1958, arguing for the 'Dignity and Conventional Prerogatives' of the kings of western Uganda. He feared that Buganda would 'swamp us & take the leading part in the country'.

I'm very pleased that--today--I've been made the Ali Mazrui Professor of History & African Studies here @umichLSA.

The chair is named in honour of Ali Mazrui, whose extraordinary career began @Makerere, where he taught political science & played a vital role in public life. 1/ @umichLSA @Makerere 2/
In 1974 Prof. Mazrui left Makerere for @UMich. He objected, he said, to 'restrictions on academic freedom & the insecurity of faculty & students'.

Here in Michigan he was much engaged--as an administrator & teacher--in building up African & African-American studies .

Here's a clip showing Uganda's most controversial politician of the mid-20th century: "Jolly Joe" Kiwanuka.

In this clip (Jan. 1958) he'd just been released on bail. He was imprisoned by the Buganda gov't, accused of plotting to assassinate Kabaka Muteesa.

Short thread. 1/ 2/
Kiwanuka was a sometime antagonist of the Mengo establishment & founder of the Uganda National Congress.

As elected member for Busiiro, he made fiery speeches accusing leading ministers in the Buganda gov't of corruption. His 1958 imprisonment was their retaliation.

Labor unionist & politician Tom Mboya was assassinated outside a chemist's shop in Nairobi on 5 July 1969.

Here's a short thread with some newly-digitised @AP footage. First: the scene at Chaani's Pharmacy & at Nairobi Hospital on that dreadful day. @AP 2/
Here's the Nation's report describing the scene at the mortuary and at Mboya's Lavington residence, where thousands of people gathered to mourn.

I've been fascinated at the Kenya Daily Nation's reporting on John Okello, the 'Field Marshall' who overthrew the Sultan's gov't in Jan. 1964.

Here's Okello & colleagues with the flag of the newly-founded People's Republic of Zanzibar, 19 Jan. 1964.

Thread 1/ 2/
Okello came to power when he & 200 men stormed a police station, armed with bows & arrows. After they captured the armory they gained the upper hand over the Sultan's police.

The Kenyan papers were fascinated with Okello: early reports held him to be a Kenya citizen.

The Tanzania govt's campaign against the opposition brings to mind an earlier episode: the Treason Trial of 1970-71.

Prosecutors claimed that Oscar Kambona--shown here in London--masterminded a plot to assassinate Nyerere & others. A key co-defendant: Bibi Titi Mohammed. Thread. 2/
Purportedly Kambona sent Bibi Titi funds to pay an assassin, who would work with men in the military to bring down Nyerere's govt.

The trial opened in Dar in May 1970. The Kenya Daily Nation had a reporter in the courtroom for the whole trial, which lasted more than a year.

Swazi king Mswati III today fled the country in the face of popular anger.

Here's a thread on the history of protest in eSwatini. In 1963 striking miners & sugar workers demanded better wages & an open political system. The strike was put down by British troops flown frm Kenya. 2/
The strike leaders were identified by hooded 'screeners'--a technique borrowed from the British campaign against Mau Mau in Kenya.

Below: British troops round up striking workers at an asbestos mine in eSwatini, June 1963. They were demanding one man-one vote.

Today @RuhakanaR--Uganda's PM--handed over his office.

Dr. Rugunda has been a constant presence in public life. He first appears in the archival record in 1969, when--as VP of the Nat Union of Students @Makerere--he visited the US ambassador.

Here's the diplomat's report. 1/ 2/
Rugunda was a high school student, about to enter university. The subjects of their discussion: the US's dismal treatment of black Americans & the ongoing war in Vietnam.

Two weeks later Rugunda was back at the US embassy with further criticism of the US war in Vietnam.

In 1968 the Tanzanian Youth League launched Operation Vijana. Their target: women who wore miniskirts. Wigs, dyed hair & tight bellbottoms were also abolished. Here's a @Reuters clip from Dar es Salaam.

'It is foolish to wear clothes that show legs,' Nyerere declared. 1/3 Here's a TYL poster from 1968 illustrating 'appropriate' styles of attire.

For several months TYL 'Green Guards' roamed the city's streets, defrocking women found wearing clothing they deemed inappropriate. Also abolished: soul music from the United States.

At 3 am on 1 Aug 1982 soldiers from the Kenya Air Force launched a coup against the gov't of Daniel arap Moi.

The airmen seized Eastleigh airbase & the Voice of Kenya in Nairobi. They called themselves the National Redemption Council.

Clip below from the morning after. 1/4 2/4
In an announcement--read by VoK's Leonard Mambo--they accused Moi of carrying out 'ruthless repression reminiscent of colonial days ... Moi's bandit gang is gone. People can now breathe'.

There was a great deal of looting in the CBD. Here's the cleanup the morning after.

Today, 20 Jan., is the anniversary of the assassination (in 1973) of Amilcar Cabral.

Cabral was the key figure in the independence struggle of Guinea-Bissau & one of the great theorists of African politics.

Below: youth in Dar es Salaam protest Cabral's assassination. 1/ 2/
Cabral led the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde. The party went to war against the Portuguese in 1956.

Here's Cabral in Dakar, May 1969. By then the PAIGC had freed 2/3 of the country. Cabral introduced civilians who'd been injured by Portuguese bombs.

The TAZARA railway was built btwn 1970 and 1975. It was to connect Zambia's copper mines to the port at Dar es Salaam.

The funds--over $400 million--came from Mao's China. It was China's largest aid project to date.

Here's Nyerere & Kaunda at the groundbreaking, Oct. 1970. 1/ 2/
Nyerere & Kaunda hoped the railway wld help create economies freed from the control of the racist regimes of S Africa & Rhodesia.

By Aug. 1973 50,000 workers had laid 600 miles of track. Here's the ceremony when the workers reached Tunduma, at the border between TZ & Zambia.