Brother Godfrey takes a fall

Another Amin successor is toppled

"The military commission wishes to inform the public that it has taken over the powers of the President."

With that terse message, Radio Uganda last week proclaimed the ouster of President Godfrey Binaisa, 59. Scarcely a year after the overthrow of the despotic Idi Amin Dada and the installation of a civilian regime, the military was back in power. Protested one opponent of the army takeover: "They have succeeded in hijacking the government."

The coup was virtually bloodless; nevertheless, it turned the capital, Kampala, into a ghost town of deserted streets and shuttered houses, as citizens, still smarting from Amin's lethal rule, played it safe and stayed indoors. It was small comfort that the takeover was apparently masterminded by a former leader of the anti-Amin resistance: Paulo Muwanga, 56, Binaisa's Labor Minister and chairman of the six-member military commission of the Uganda National Liberation Front, which was formed in 1979 to topple Amin.

After deposing Binaisa, the commission announced its intention to appoint a junta of at least four members to run the country until the next election, which it promised to try to hold before the end of September. "Corruption is the hallmark of the Binaisa government," a commission message said by way of explanation for the coup.

Binaisa's downfall was not unexpected. After taking over from Yusufu Lule, Amin's first successor, who was deposed after only ten weeks, the chubby lawyer barely survived a string of no-confidence motions brought against him in the country's parliament. The immediate cause of Binaisa's overthrow was his attempt to dismiss Brigadier David Oyite Ojok as army chief of staff, reportedly because Ugandan troops, ordered to conduct house-to-house searches for arms in Kampala, had looted many of the homes. Troops loyal to Ojok quickly seized the radio station in Kampala and began broadcasting anti-Binaisa messages. After two days, the takeover was announced.

The President learned of it while at his official state home 21 miles away in Entebbe. There he remained, closeted and lonely, insisting that he was still President. In the midst of the rebellion, Binaisa dispatched plaintive letters to the leaders of three neighboring countries, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere, Kenya's Daniel arap Moi and Sudan's Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri. The letters to Arap Moi and Nimeiri were intercepted by the Ugandan military. "Dear Brother Gaafar," said the missive to Nimeiri, stamped TOP SECRET, "I am in the middle of a political crisis... I ask you to make available to me 1,000 riot police."

The military commission's ruling power rests largely on the tacit approval of Tanzanian President Nyerere. It was Nyerere who brought Amin's downfall by dispatching 20,000 troops into Uganda, and he has watched over the troubled land with a godfatherly eye ever since. Some 10,000 Tanzanian soldiers have remained there, ostensibly to ensure internal peace. Though the takeover reportedly surprised Nyerere, he instructed his troops not to oppose the Ugandan army, but only to protect Binaisa from execution. Kenya, meanwhile, remains apprehensive about Nyerere's motives; Nairobi has long feared that the Tanzanian leader plans to turn Uganda into a client state permanently.

It is widely believed the coup may have been designed to bring back Milton Obote, 56, who ran Uganda from 1962 until being overthrown by Amin in 1971. Muwanga and some senior army officers support the controversial politician, who earlier this month had announced his plans to return from exile in Tanzania and run for President. Denying any connection with the coup, Obote last week announced he would return on May 27 and insisted he would serve as President only if properly elected. Given Uganda's recent history, it would be remarkable if Obote, or anyone else, were to win the presidency in a fair election.

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