1971 Ugandan coup d'état
The 1971 Ugandan coup d'état was a military coup d'état executed by the Ugandan military, led by general Idi Amin, against the government of President Milton Obote on 25 January 1971. The seizure of power took place while Obote was abroad attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Singapore. Amin was afraid that Obote might dismiss him, and installed himself as dictator. The 1971 coup is often cited as an example of "class action by the military", wherein the Uganda Army acted against "an increasingly socialist regime whose egalitarian domestic politics posed more and more of a threat to the military's economic privileges". Background A rift had developed between Amin and Obote, exacerbated by the support Amin had built within the army by recruiting from the West Nile region, his involvement in operations to support the rebellion in southern Sudan and an attempt on Obote's life in 1969. In October 1970, Obote took overall control of the armed forces, reducing Amin from his position of commander in chief of all the armed forces to that of commander in chief of the army. The Obote government pursued a policy of African nationalism, which antagonized the British and the Israeli governments—both