Ugandan Asians Exodus

Idi Amin was the President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Popularly known as the "Butcher of Uganda", he is considered one of the cruellest despots in world history.

Idi Amin announced that God had visited him in a dream and issued a divine instruction: “Asians came to Uganda to build the railway. The railway is finished. They must leave now."

Idi Amin addressed the Ugandan Asians and showed them envelopes containing money alleged to have been sent by Asians as a means of smuggling cash out of the country.

In June 1972, the Ugandan Asians were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin. Many Ugandan Asians applied for entry permits and queued outside the British High Commission in Kampala, Uganda.

About 50,000 Asians were forced to leave the country in 1972, on the orders of Idi Amin, who accused them of “milking Uganda’s money”. At the time, the Asians owned 90% of the country’s businesses and accounted for 90% of Ugandan tax revenues. This photo shows shops belonging to Asian traders in downtown Kampala. 

Mohamed Amin documented the journey of 102 Ugandan Asians as they made their way back to India. They were to travel on the train from Kampala through Kenya to Mombasa, on the same railway that their ancestors had helped build, where they would join the SS Karanja to Karachi. 

The train journey lasted well over two full days and nights. Cramped in the rail compartments, weary and unwashed, the Ugandan Asians arrived at Mombasa harbour and boarded the SS Karanja.

This old man fell asleep due to sheer exhaustion.

The passengers on the vessel SS Karanja, after having been expelled from Uganda, take a last look at East Africa.

The SS Karanja was an old ship with limited accommodation. The passengers were penniless, almost without possessions and very tired. But they were away from Uganda, where they left in fear of their lives.

This was the journey of the first 102 Indian citizens out of Uganda. Unfortunately not all the Asians in Uganda were as lucky ...