Uganda: Today in History - Idi Amin Expels British Military Advisers From Uganda

What the report says

On September 14, 1972, Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered the immediate removal of the British Military Advisory Team from Uganda, according to Nile Post’s historical piece distributed by AllAfrica. The decision ended Britain’s direct military advisory role in the country and added to a rapid worsening of ties between Kampala and London.

The report says the move followed other confrontations between Amin’s government and Britain, including his earlier directive forcing Asians holding British passports to leave Uganda. It also notes that Amin had initially kept relatively cordial relations with Britain after taking power in January 1971, with British advisers remaining to help train and reorganize the Uganda Army.

By 1972, however, Amin had moved away from Western partners. The article says he expelled Israeli advisers and sought closer ties with Libya and the Soviet Union after Western states did not provide the weapons he wanted. It also says he viewed the British advisers with growing suspicion, amid fears in his government that they could aid opposition forces.

The expulsion effectively ended formal British defense cooperation with Amin’s administration. The article places the episode in a broader regional context, noting that fighting intensified along Uganda’s southern border soon afterward and that British military involvement later returned under different governments and circumstances.