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
Hafizullah Amin did not participate in the meeting. This, according to Beverley Male, "suggested that some plot against Amin was in preparation". Taraki was instructed to stop-over in Moscow, where the Soviet leaders urged him to remove Amin from power as per the KGB's decision, because Amin posed danger. Amin's trusted aid, Daoud Taroon, informed Amin of the meeting and the KGB's plan. In Kabul, Taraki's aides, the Gang of Four (consisting of Watanjar, Mazdoryar, Gulabzoi and Sarwari), planned a plot to assassinate Amin, but it failed as Amin was informed of this. Within hours of Taraki's return to Kabul on 11