I wonder who was the prime minister in 1972.... On 4 August 1972, the then President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his countrys Indian and Pakistani minority, giving them 90 days to leave Uganda. Ugandan government claimed that the Indians were hoarding wealth and goods to the detriment of indigenous Africans and sabotaging the Ugandan economy. Former British colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa have many citizens of South Asian descent. They were brought there by the British Empire from British India to do clerical work in Imperial service, or unskilled/semi-skilled manual labour such as construction or farm work. In the 1890s, 32,000 labourers from British India were brought to East Africa under indentured labour contracts to work on the construction of the Uganda Railway. Most of the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724 decided to remain in East Africa after the lines completion. Many Indians in East Africa and Uganda were in the sartorial and banking businesses, where they were employed by the British. Since the representation of Indians in these occupations was high, stereotyping of Indians in Uganda as tailors or bankers was common. Asians had significant influence on the economy, constituting 1% of the population while receiving a fifth of the national income. Gated ethnic communities served elite healthcare and schooling services. Additionally, the tariff system in Uganda had historically been oriented toward the economic interests of Asian traders. After Idi Amin came to power, he exploited pre-existing Indophobia and spread propaganda against Indians. Indians were labelled as dukawallas and stereotyped as greedy, conniving, without any racial identity or loyalty but always cheating, conspiring and plotting to subvert Uganda. Amin defended this expulsion by arguing that he was giving Uganda back to the ethnic Ugandans. Many of the Indians emigrated to the United Kingdom , some of them to other countries and very less ended up in India. Following the expulsion of Indians in 1972, India severed diplomatic relations with Uganda. The Indian government warned Uganda of dire consequences, but took no action when Amins government ignored the ultimatum. NOTE: Now most of the refugees are among the richest people in London… Hats off…
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 10:03:39 +0000
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