Foreigners Flee Uganda, Tell of Fear, Looting

L.A. Times Archives

July 31, 1985 12 AM PT

Associated Press

BUSIA, Kenya — More than 300 frightened foreigners, including 62 Americans, crossed the border into Kenya in a convoy of 50 vehicles today with tales of violence during the weekend military coup in Uganda.

The evacuees told of wholesale looting, random grenade attacks and reckless gunfire by the rebel soldiers, of lying terrified on the floor to escape the bullets.

They said Americans and Europeans escaped the worst of the violence, and they knew of no foreigners who suffered serious injury.

“I just want to say ‘God bless America,’ that’s all,” Jan Collins exclaimed as she stepped from a bus at Busia. Collins, 53, of Missoula, Mont., was a secretary at the U.S. Embassy in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.

‘Once Is Enough’

The coup Saturday in which the military ousted President Milton Obote was “one of the most exciting days of my life,” she said, but added: “Once in a lifetime is enough.”

Obote fled to Kenya. The coup leaders established a military council and Gen. Tito Okello became interim head of state.

Ugandans and shopkeepers of Indian and Pakistani descent bore the brunt of the looting, the evacuees reported. They said nearly all the shops in Kampala were looted and burned, parts of the capital were without power or water, and food and other commodities were in short supply.

Looting Was Bad

“The worst part was the looting. Any property of any sort was raided,” said Mike Bishop, 51, a British businessman. He said his hotel was shot up, the roof caught fire and a grenade went off next door.

Katherine Gaudet of Folsom, N.J., said she did not see much of the looting and fighting between rebel and loyalist soldiers.

“I’m the type of individual that when trouble comes, I just head home and almost literally crawl under the bed,” she said.

An Asian businessman, who would not give his name, described the looting and invasion of his house by soldiers as he, his family and neighbors lay on the floor in terror.

“We thought it was safe to be in a residential area. But they came in firing. We had to lie down on the floor.”