Isaac Lumago

Isaac Lumago (1939 – 8 May 2012) was a Ugandan military officer who served as chief of staff for the Uganda Army from 1977 to 1978, and later became leader of the Former Uganda National Army (FUNA).

Biography Isaac Lumago was born at Koboko in 1939. He was an ethnic Nubian, and a cousin of Idi Amin.

Lumago worked as a customs official before being recruited into the Uganda Army in 1963 by British officers. After undergoing training at the Sudanese Military Academy in Omdurman, he was made a second lieutenant and posted to Moroto. He underwent additional training over the following years and received steady promotions. By 1971 he held the rank of captain, and was supportive of Colonel Idi Amin's military coup that year. In 1974 he underwent training in the Soviet Union. Under Amin's rule, Lumago became Minister of Industry and Power before—at the rank of colonel—being appointed Uganda's High Commissioner to Lesotho in 1975. Operating from Maseru, he also was given responsibility for Uganda's relations with 12 other states in southern Africa. In July 1976 he was in Kenya when he overheard Kenya Air Force officers on 4 July, discussing plans by Israel to carry out a raid against Entebbe International Airport to free hostages who were held there by Palestinian and German airplane hijackers with the complicity of the Ugandan government. Lumago and Colonel Gad Wilson Toko, who was in Nairobi for non-military reasons, managed to telephone Brigadier Isaac Maliyamungu after failing to reach Uganda Army Chief of Staff Mustafa Adrisi. Maliyamungu, who was reportedly drunk at a night club, dismissed the warning and told both men that since they were acting in civilian capacity they should not concern themselves with military matters. The Israelis subsequently launched Operation Entebbe, rescuing the hostages and destroying a significant portion of the Uganda Army Air Force. (According to To the Point International, Luamgo's recall was viewed by international observers "as a move to reduce the influence of the then Minister of Defence, Major General Mustafa Adrisi".) Lumago did little to exercise responsibility over his ministerial portfolio.

In 1979 Tanzanian forces and Ugandan rebels invaded Uganda and overthrew Amin. Lumago fled from his mansion in Koboko, which was subsequently destroyed. He went to Zaire, He also lobbied for an amnesty to allow Idi Amin to return to Uganda. Lumago's troops fought with the UNLA to defend Kampala from a NRA offensive in January 1986, but were defeated. He continued to live in exile until 1997.

In late 2011 Lumago was made adviser to President Museveni for security in the West Nile sub-region. In 2012 Lumago fell ill and was taken to a medical clinic in Koboko. The clinic referred him to Arua Referral Hospital in Arua, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit. His health continued to deteriorate until he died on 8 May at the age of 73. Doctors suggested that he had died from high blood pressure. Lumago was a close friend of Andrew Mukooza, the last commander of the Uganda Army Air Force.