For Nyerere, work at the international arena must have been sometimes excrutiating. With his unstinting sense of justice for the weak and voiceless, having to work with people like Mobutu of Zaire (as seen in the middle picture above) must have been galling. Mobutu was the tool used by America’s CIA and the former Congo colonial masters Belgium to oust the first post-independence Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. That Lumumba was an ideological soul-mate of Mwalimu alongside leaders like Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Guinea’s Ahmed Sekou Toure must have added to the pain.
However, he would have worked on the principle that better have the bastard in the tent pissing out than out pissing in.
Even with that principle, Mwalimu drew a line at the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. He strongly opposed his coup from the outset in 1971. The first countries to embrace Idi Amin were Great Britain and Israel. Both of them would come to bitterly regret this as the full horror of the man gradually emerged. Mwalimu’s acute political antennae had been proved right once again.
After Idi Amin sent his army into Northern Tanzania in 1978 and announced an annexation of a strip of land north of River Kagera, Nyerere had a perfect excuse to rid Uganda and the world of the murderous dictator. He sent in Tanzanian forces which joined force with Ugandan exiles. Within months they had captured the capital of Uganda and sent Idi Amin into exile where he died almost 25 years later. It is estimated that up to half a million people were murdered during his eight year rule.
Nyerere’s quest for social emancipation of the common man
Leaders of newly independent African countries with host Emperor Haille Selassie I of Ethiopia (front row, third from left). Nyerere actively supported efforts to bring newly independent African countries together in both the economic and political sphere. He would repeat the mantra of unity of the poor throughout his presidency as the only way these countries would be able to have an effective voice on the global stage. He would have been bitterly disappointed by the drift away from this as more and more countries became proxies of the superpowers and leaders turned into oppressors of their own people. Some of the leaders pictured above turned into monsters with Jean-Bédel Bokassa (front row, second left) turning himself into a self-declared Emperor. He was overthrown in 1979 but his country to date remains mired in deep corruption and instability. Mobutu Sesse Seko (front row, extreme right) the tyrant installed by Americans and Belgians when they overthrew the first Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, became an embodiment of corruption and kleptomania. By the time he was driven out of power in 1997, his country Zaire (now known as Democratic Republic of Congo) had been virtually destroyed. The instability created festers on and millions have died and continue to die as a result. In the picture above, Mwalimu Nyerere (back row, third from left) is seen flanked by Milton Obote of Uganda to his right and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia to his left.
Mwalimu Nyerere conferring with other leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Mobutu of Zaire (DRC) and Kaunda of Zambia. Below is a picture of Mwalimu Nyerere meeting Rajiv Gandhi (left) then Prime Minister of India, shortly before Mwalimu’s retirement
For ideological reasons, Britain and Israel openly celebrated the coming to power of Idi Amin. Their assessment was that he was a mouldable buffoon. The ousted leader Milton Obote had been a constant critic of both countries. Britain was the first country in the world to recognise the new government of Idi Amin. Nyerere’s criticism and opposition to the new order was simply dismissed. History was to prove him right sooner and in a more horrifying manner than even he would have expected.. Picture on the right shows Idi Amin with the then Israeli premier Golda Meir
