Former Uganda president Obote dies in exile at 81

KAMPALA – Uganda’s twice-ousted former president Milton Obote, a post-colonial leader whose strongarm tactics led to his downfall and indelibly marred his legacy, died on Monday in exile aged 81, his political party said.

The east African nation’s first prime minister after independence from Britain and later president, Obote is today more often remembered for the brutality and repression of his second term in office in the 1980s. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of people during a bloody civil war that marked that tenure have led to comparisons with notorious dictator Idi Amin, who overthrew Obote in a 1971 coup d’etat.- Nampa-AFPThe deaths of hundreds of thousands of people during a bloody civil war that marked that tenure have led to comparisons with notorious dictator Idi Amin, who overthrew Obote in a 1971 coup d’etat. – Nampa-AFP