1971 Ugandan coup d'état 1971 Ugandan coup d'état The 1971 Ugandan coup d'état was a military coup d'état executed by the Ugandan military, led by general Idi Amin, against the government of President Milton Obote on January 25, 1971. The seizure of power took place while Obote was abroad attending the Commonwealth Heads of State conference in Singapore. Amin was afraid that Obote might dismiss him. The 1971 coup is often cited as an example of "class action by the military", wherein the Ugandan armed forces acted against "an increasingly socialist régime whose equalitarian domestic politics posed more and more of a threat to
David Oyite-Ojok the '..newly created post of Assistant Military Secretary in the Ministry of Defence,' serving as a Major. His duties included '..planning, all policy matters, and control of Establishment.' When Idi Amin overthrew Obote in 1971, Oyite Ojok was amongst the military personnel who fled to neighbouring Tanzania and, eight years later, in the wake of Amin's 1979 invasion of the country, assumed a key role in the grouping of military exiles who, with the backing of Tanzanian troops, led the counteroffensive which resulted in the overthrow of Amin. Oyite Ojok became a member, along with Yoweri Museveni, Paulo Muwanga and