After the Israelis moved quickly to consolidate the coup, Amin made his first foreign trip to Israel

LONDON, August 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israel had helped Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, whose brutal reign in the 1970s left hundreds of thousands dead in one of Africa’s bloodiest episodes, to take over power in a coup, a leading British newspaper reported on Sunday, August 17.

"Many people suspected that Britain had a hand in the coup. However, Foreign Office papers released last year point to a different conspirator: Israel," the Independent said.

The first telegrams to London from the British High Commissioner in Kampala, Richard Slater, show a man shocked and bewildered by the coup on January 25, 1971, in which Colonel Amin deposed President Obote.

But Slater quickly turned to the man who he thought might know what was going on; Colonel Bar-Lev, the Israeli defense attaché, said the paper.

The Israeli colonel and Amin, the Independent said, had spent the morning of the coup together, and Slater's next telegram said that according to Colonel Bar-Lev: "In the course of last night General Amin caused to be arrested all officers in the armed forces sympathetic to Obote ... Amin is now firmly in control of all elements of [the] army which controls vital points in Uganda ... the Israeli defense attaché discounts any possibility of moves against Amin."

Slater told London that Bar-Lev had explained "in considerable detail [how] ... all potential foci of resistance, both up country and in Kampala, had been eliminated".

After the Israelis moved quickly to consolidate the coup, Bar-Lev was in constant contact with Amin and giving him advice. Shortly afterwards Amin made his first foreign trip to Israel.

Amin, who died in a hospital in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah Saturday, August 16, was believed to be responsible for the death of 300,000 of his countrymen during his brutal eight-year rule, from 1971 to 79.

‘Punishing Sudan’

Israel was so interested in helping the coup in Uganda – a landlocked country in Central Africa – in an effort to back rebellion in southern Sudan to punish Sudan for supporting the Arab cause in the six-Day War in 1967, said Slater.

"They do not want the rebels to win. They want to keep them fighting," he added.

The Israelis had helped train the new Uganda army in the 1960s. Shortly after independence, Amin was sent to Israel on a training course, said the Independent.

When Amin became chief of staff of the new army, he also ran a sideline operation for the Israelis, supplying arms and ammunition to the rebels in southern Sudan.

As for Amin’s motive for helping Israel, the paper said that many of his people, Kakwa, live in southern Sudan.

Things took a different turn for Israel when Obote, who wanted peace in southern Sudan, sacked Amin in November, 1970.

“Their stick for beating Sudan was suddenly taken away,” according to the paper.

‘Implacable’ Enemy

The Independent said the British may have had little to do with the coup but they welcomed it enthusiastically.

"General Amin has certainly removed from the African scene one of our most implacable enemies in matters affecting Southern Africa...," wrote an enthusiastic Foreign Office official in London.

The man who argued most vehemently for Britain to back Amin with arms was Bruce McKenzie, a former RAF pilot turned MI6 agent, whom Amin murdered seven years later.

“He flew to Israel shortly after the coup and, as if getting permission to back Amin, he reported to Douglas-Home: "The way is now clear for our High Commission in Kampala to get close to Amin."

But the cautious Slater in Kampala remained reluctant. Urged on by McKenzie, Douglas-Home gave Slater his orders: "The PM will be watching this and will, I am sure, want us to take quick advantage of any opportunity of selling arms. Don't overdo the caution".