Isaac Maliyamungu the Tanzanians and their Ugandan allies overthrew Amin's government in 1979, Maliyamungu fled to Zaire, where he became a businessman. Born in Zaire, Maliyamungu was a Christian of Kakwa ethnicity and a cousin 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 (UA) in 1967. By 1971, Maliyamungu was a corporal and served as pay clerk for the Uganda Air Force at Entebbe. He played a crucial role in Amin's coup against President Milton Obote, and it was later claimed that
History of Uganda (1971–79) which Obote had attempted to dismantle. They seemed willing to forget that their new president, Idi Amin, had been the tool of that military suppression. Amin made the usual statements about his government's intent to play a mere "caretaker role" until the country could recover sufficiently for civilian rule. Amin repudiated Obote's non-aligned foreign policy, and his government was quickly recognized by Israel, Britain, and the United States. By contrast, presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) initially refused to accept the legitimacy of the new military