Isaac Maliyamungu

Isaac Maliyamungu, (His surname has also been spelled Malyamungu, Maliyamungu was a Christian from the Kakwa ethnic group and a cousin or nephew of Idi Amin.) At some point, he migrated to Uganda, and got a job as gatekeeper at the Nyanza textile factory in Jinja.

He joined the Uganda Army in 1967, possibly recruited on Amin's orders. By then, Amin had risen to deputy commander of the Uganda Army. At the time, he was aiding Amin in secretly enlisting troops from the West Nile region and southern Sudan. These forces were trained in the Mabira Forest, and were part of Amin's preparations for a coup against President Milton Obote. He played a crucial role For this purpose, he was granted "unlimited powers to execute anyone in the army", including superior officers.

Official under Idi Amin Rise in the ranks Maliyamungu was one of the closest confidants of President Idi Amin (pictured 1977).

Maliyamungu quickly became Amin's "right-hand man". He was appointed member of the Defence Council, General Staff Officer I Grade responsible for training and operations (de facto army chief of staff), He was appointed the official head of the "Second Simba Mechanized Battalion" at Masaka and promoted from major to lieutenant colonel in May 1973. In 1974, he transferred from head of the Ordnance Depot to commander of the Eagle Colonel Gaddafi Battalion, and was also given command of a mechanised regiment. In April 1975, Maliyamungu left leadership of the Gaddafi Battalion to Hussein Mohammed, and was appointed head of an entire brigade. He consequently oversaw several units from an office in Jinja.

Most importantly of all his commands, Maliyamungu headed the VIP Protection Unit (Amin's bodyguards and enforcers) and played a major role in the State Research Bureau, Uganda's intelligence agency. Along with Major General Mustafa Adrisi, he was believed to effectively control the entire Ugandan armed forces, and was regarded as the Ugandan President's "power base". Knowing that his power derived from his influence over the soldiers, Maliyamungu reportedly turned down offers of cabinet posts to stay in the barracks. He was generally respected and feared among the common soldiers, and held the power to beat or execute those who disappointed him or were suspected of being disloyal to the Amin regime. overheard a conversation by officers of the Kenya Air Force on 4 July. They discussed plans by Israel to carry out a raid against Entebbe to free hostages who were held there by Palestinian and German hijackers with assistance by the Ugandan government. The ambassador informed Maliyamungu, but he regarded the report as "gasiya" (rubbish) While the raid took place, Maliyamungu was allegedly relaxing at a nearby hotel with a prostitute.

Over time, Amin's brutal regime was increasingly destabilized by internal divisions and economic problems despite great repression by state authorities. One of Amin's policies that drew opposition even among his original followers was the great power he gave to Kakwa and Nubians, while leaving officials of other ethnicies underrepresented. As result, a group of officers led by Brigadier Charles Arube attempted to overthrow Amin and kill his Nubian/Kakwa followers, including Maliyamungu. In the end, the so-called Arube uprising failed. Maliyamungu was also regarded as "prime target" for assassination by Ugandan exiles, as he controlled much of the Uganda Army's tank forces. By 1978, Maliyamungu was one of the few remaining people who were regarded as trusted and loyal followers of Amin. He was one of the officers who were responsible for enlisting 10,000 new soldiers for the Uganda Army in Sudan, Kibera (Kenya), and Uganda around September 1978. This mass recruitment followed extensive purges in the military.

Involvement in state repression Maliyamungu was known as Idi Amin's "hit man" and "principal hangman". The forces under his command used extreme methods in suppressing suspected dissidents. Though there is no record of Maliyamungu behaving violently before the coup, after Amin's takeover he became one the new regime's most vicious officials. He was reportedly feared by his colleagues on the Defence Council due to his brutality, and by the rest of the army due to his great powers and close connection with President Amin. He also chaired the show trial of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, and other religious leaders in 1977. Luwum as well as his colleagues were murdered shortly after the trial. and a Human rights commission, Maliyamungu was directly responsible for their deaths.

According to George Ivan Smith, President Amin, Vice President Adrisi, and Maliyamungu decided to order a purge of the Langi and Acholi ethnic groups in northern Uganda in 1977. Thousands belonging to these ethnic groups, primarily men, were subsequently murdered. Despite the widespread and brutal suppression of all dissidents, the power of the Amin regime increasingly deteriorated in the late 1970s, as political and economic instability grew in Uganda. In response to these developments, Maliyamungu (by then promoted to brigadier) declared in a 1978 speech to 10,000 civilians that he would use tanks and bulldozers to destroy any area that was opposed to the government, proving to everyone that the regime "is hotter than a heated iron bar and not afraid to act".

Corruption Like many other high-ranking officials under Amin, Maliyamungu used his power to enrich himself. When Amin ordered the expulsion of Asians from Uganda, Maliyamungu was placed on a committee to oversee the distribution of their wealth, taking much for himself. He was also involved in coffee smuggling, shipping large amounts of coffee with boats from Uganda across Lake Victoria to Kenya. President Amin ordered his British advisor Bob Astles to clamp down on Maliyamungu's smuggling operations in 1978. According to Indian diplomat Madanjeet Singh, Maliyamungu responded by kidnapping and torturing Astles before releasing him.

Maliyamungu also used his national position to intervene in sporting. In late 1975 he interrupted a session of the Uganda Amateur Athletics Association (UAAA) general assembly and declared his desire to lead the organisation. The assembly then unanimously elected him UAAA chairman. During this time he repeatedly intervened in the affairs of Uganda's national sport teams to oversee their preparations for the 1976 Summer Olympics. This came to naught as Uganda boycotted the event.

The Uganda–Tanzania War, exile and death

When the Uganda–Tanzania War broke out under unclear circumstances in October 1978, the Uganda Army soon began to encounter serious difficulties. The Ugandan Invasion of Kagera was repelled by November 1978, as the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) launched a large-scale counter-offensive. After retaking Kagera, the Tanzanians advanced into Uganda. At the time, Radio Tanzania falsely claimed that Amin had dismissed Maliyamungu and put him under house arrest.

By February 1979, Maliyamungu was in command of the garrison at Masaka, which was one of the most important towns in southern Uganda, and thus became a target of the advancing Tanzanian troops. Though thousands strong, the Ugandan forces at Masaka were wrought by indiscipline and internal divisions. With the exception of a number of probes against Tanzanian positions around the town, which Maliyamungu ordered on 23 February, the defense of Masaka was ineffective. The TPDF managed to occupy it almost without resistance on 24 February, while the Ugandans fled north. Maliyamungu got lost in the bush for more than a week following the battle at Masaka; according to journalist Felix Ocen, he feared reprisals for his defeat, and eventually returned with an apology. It was planned that the Ugandans and allied Libyan forces would first retake Lukaya, and then attack Masaka with the ultimate aim of expelling the TPDF from Uganda. Maliyamungu was one of the commanders entrusted with leading this operation, He took a substantial amount of his wealth with him, and intended to become a businessman. Maliyamungu subsequently became involved in the pro-Amin rebellion in the West Nile sub-region during the Ugandan Bush War. Having gathered a band of fighters, he invaded the West Nile region from Zaire in coordination with other Amin loyalists. He later moved to Sudan where he died of poisoning in February 1984. (Another source has stated that he died in Zaire in the 1980s.) Although little is known about his education, he was regarded as intelligent.

Legacy Maliyamungu was one of the most well known and infamous members of the Amin regime. His violent behaviour has remained a critical part of memory of him in Uganda As result of his reputation, Maliyamungu's name was even used as nickname for another infamous soldier, Musa Jammeh, a member of the Gambia's presidential guard under Yahya Jammeh. Both informal narratives and academic works often use him as an example of the foreign "mercenaries" employed by Amin's regime and often imply that his violent behaviour could be explained by either his non-Ugandan origin or his allegedly "psychotic" mental state.

Maliyamungu was portrayed by Ka Vundla in the 1981 biographical film Rise and Fall of Idi Amin. Maliyamungu did not appear in The Last King of Scotland, another historical drama centered on Amin; the non-appearance of Maliyamungu and other close allies of the Ugandan ruler was one of several points of criticism by Ugandan critics of the film.