Ali Kiiza

Ali Muhammed Kiiza (born 1944) is a retired Ugandan Major General, in the UPDF Air Force, who serves as a Senior Military Adviser to the President of Uganda. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Pilot to six Heads of State in the Government of Uganda, from 1973 until 2012.

Background and education Kiiza was born in Masindi District, in the Western Region of Uganda, on 27 October 1944. After attending primary school, he was admitted to Masindi Secondary School (currently Kabalega Secondary School), where he completed his O-Level studies in 1965. That same year, he signed up at school, to join the Uganda Air Force.

That same year, Uganda hosted the OAU Heads of State Summit, in Kampala. He piloted Yasser Arafat from Damascus, Syria to Entebbe, and then to Khartoum, Sudan. Also, General Yakubu Gowon, at that time the president of Nigeria, was overthrown while he was in Kampala, attending the OAU Summit. Amin tasked Kiiza to fly Gowon to Lomé, Togo, where he went into exile. However, he continues to serve as a senior presidential adviser on Air Force matters, a role he was first appointed to in 1998.