Idi Amin Proposes An OAU Force To Fight European Colonial Imperialism (1973)

 

Idi Amin proposed the Organization of African Unity create an armed force. The Ugandan leader suggested this force liberate African territory still under European colonial imperialism. Namibia, Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Sinai Peninsula lost by Egypt were areas of concern. The OAU force Idi Amin proposed be modeled along the lines of NATO or the Warsaw Pact. A large military defensive  alliance would show France and the UK Africans could fight back. An OAU force was not a terrible idea, but Idi Amin's intentions were not altruistic. Idi Amin most likely wanted to extend Uganda's influence over all of Africa at the expense of other OAU members. His government was a military dictatorship and that brought into question the desire for liberation of the people of Africa. The declining relations with Tanzania also would be an obstacle to a OAU force proposal. Uganda and Tanzania would go to war. By 1979 Idi Amin was deposed and the OAU force did not materialize. The African Union however would develop the African Standby Force (ASF) in the early 2000s.