James Zikusoka forces aligned to Milton Obote launched a botched attempt to overthrow Idi Amin, the dictator fired all cabinet ministers that he did not trust, Zikusoka included. Zikusoka sought political refugee in Kenya, and then later joined the United Nations Development Program and served as a consultant in New York and Saudi Arabia, then for the Commonwealth Secretariat in Barbados until Amin was overthrown in 1979. He served as Uganda's high commissioner to the United Kingdom, appointed to that position by Godfrey Binaisa,the then newly appointed President of Uganda in 1979. Later, from 1993 until 1997, Zikusoka served as the chairman
Alan Coren of children's books. One of his most successful books, "The Collected Bulletins of Idi Amin" (a collection of his "Punch" articles about Amin) was rejected for publication in the United States on the grounds of racial sensitivity. These Bulletins were later made into a comedy album, "The Collected Broadcasts of Idi Amin" with the actor John Bird. After the Tanzanian capture of Kampala in 1979 the American journalist Art Barrett discovered a copy of Coren's book on Idi Amin's bedside table. Coren's other books include "The Dog It Was That Died" (1965), "The Sanity Inspector" (1974), "All Except The Bastard"