Uganda and Leicester

On 13 September 2012, Sundip Meghani, the Labour and Co-operative Councillor for Beaumont Leys, brought a motion before the Leicester City Council to raise awareness of the unique contribution made by Ugandan Asians to Leicester’s history. As the son and grandson of Ugandan Asian immigrants who fled to Leicester from Idi Amin in 1972, Councillor Meghani observed that “the entire Asian population of Uganda was expelled by the dictator Idi Amin.”

He continued: “They were given 90 days to leave the country or face being put into concentration camps. Some 80,000 men, women and children were stripped of all their possessions and forced to leave the only home they had ever known.” Those holding British passports soon made their way to the UK, with around 10,000 of the 25,000 British passport holders subsequently settling in Leicester. (As a result of these changes the British National Party decided to move their national headquarters to Leicester.)

Like all the celebratory coverage surrounding Leicester Labour Councils unwilling acceptance of these political refugees, no mention is made of the key role played by the British government in bringing the dictator Idi Amin to power. An issue which is well covered in Mark Curtis’ excellent book Unpeople: Britain’s Secret Human Rights Abuses (Vintage, 2004); a relevant extract of which can be found online here, see “The rise of Idi Amin in Uganda, 1971-72.”

…Article continued here.