Today in History: Tito Okello Sworn In as Uganda's Head of State

What the report says

Nile Post’s “Today in History” feature revisits the swearing-in of Gen. Tito Okello Lutwa as Uganda’s head of state on July 29, 1985, two days after President Milton Obote was removed in a military coup. The report says Okello, then 71, took the oath outside the High Court in Kampala as chairman of the Military Council, the junta that came to power after the coup associated with Brig. Bazilio Olara-Okello.

According to the article, the ceremony took place during a tense period in the capital, following looting and unrest. In his first remarks as leader, Okello called for reconciliation and urged rival political and armed groups to stop fighting and participate in a government of national unity.

Nile Post notes that Okello’s government lasted less than six months but came during one of Uganda’s most unstable political periods. The Military Council included several anti-Obote groups, among them the Uganda Freedom Movement, the Federal Democratic Movement and factions linked to former president Idi Amin. The administration nevertheless faced disorder, with soldiers accused of abuses including robbery and extortion.

The report also recalls the Nairobi Peace Talks between Okello’s government and Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army, mediated by Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi. Although an agreement was signed on December 17, 1985, fighting resumed, and the NRA continued advancing. On January 26, 1986, NRA forces took Kampala, ending Okello’s rule. Nile Post says he later went into exile in Kenya, returned to Uganda under amnesty in 1993, and died in Gulu in 1996.