The mantelpieces of many an Asian family in Leicester and London, it is said, sport two framed photographs. One is of Idi Amin, the African dictator who expelled them from Uganda; the other is of Edward Heath, the prime minister who allowed them in. ‘This double gratitude,’ writes Lucy Fulford, ‘says thanks for throwing us out and thanks for taking us in.’
Asians filled teddy bears with jewellery and baked diamonds into snacks taken aboard their last flights out
If the expulsion from ‘the Pearl of Africa’ of 80,000 Asians was the most traumatic experience of their lives, many also retro-actively recognise it as the best thing that ever happened. It’s a juxtaposition explored in this detailed account of what ensued when Uganda’s quixotic despot gave an ethnic minority he accused of economic sabotage just 90 days to leave in 1972.
Last year marked the 50-year anniversary of this jarring episode, so this book lands a little late.
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