The disappearance of Brig. Gen.Yorokamu Tizihwayo is hard to understand. Let me try to remember how the situation under his command was.
When Lt.Colonel John Onah was Commanding Officer of the 2nd Paratroopers’ Battalion in Fort Portal, Yorokamu Tizihwayo was a Major and 2nd In Command. In 1974 Lt.Colonel John Onah was made a Cabinet Minister and Major Yorokamu Tizihwayo was promoted to Lt.Colonel and assumed the Command of the 2nd Paratroopers Battalion. Captain Moses Gala was promoted to Major, posted to Fort Portal and became 2nd in Command.
In 1975 Lt. Colonel Yorokamu Tizihwayo was called to the Command Post by President Amin. None of us knew what was going on. Major Moses Gala was promoted to the rank of Lt. Colonel and made the Commanding officer of the 2nd Paratroopers’ Battalion. Moses Gala was a cousin brother of President Amin. Captain Juma Ayiga was promoted to the rank of Major and made 2nd in Command.
A few weeks later Yorokamu Tizihwayo was promoted to the rank of full Colonel and given the task to head the Western Brigade. He was posted to Kasese to build the Brigade Headquarters. Later that year, Lt. Colonel Moses Gala and Major Juma Ayiga, both Commanding the 2nd Paratroopers’ Battalion of the Western Brigade, of which Brigade Colonel Yorokamu Tizihwayo was the Commander, organized a”congratulatory” party for the new Brigade Commander in Fort Portal town. However, the party turned out to be a trap to assassinate Colonel Yorokamu Tizihwayo. He managed to escape unharmed during the commotion. He went to the Command Post and reported the matter to the President. Many of us believed that the two Commanders of the 2nd Paratroopers’ Battalion would be Court Martialed and probably dismissed. We were wrong. Instead Colonel Yorokamu was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and his assassination attempt was never even mentioned.
In 1977 Lt. Colonel Moses Gala was accused by the Catholic Church to have raped a Catholic Nun. He was retired from the Army and sent back to his home in Arua.
At the Western Brigade Headquaters in Kasese, the Brigade Major was called Major Ismail Tiko. He was the second most Senior Officer. The Western Brigade Sports Officer was called Captain Ali Alichama. The Brigade Commander was very friendly to me and always went to his residence to chat with him whenever I happened to be in Kasese. I think my closeness to the Brigade Commander made the Brigade Major and his close friend, the Brigade Sports Officer very unhappy. In 1976 I went to inspect the Western Brigade Boxing Championships and nearly fell into an assassination trap by the Brigade Major and the Brigade Sports Officer. I returned to the General Headquarters in Kampala unsure about why I was to be assassinated. Later when Brig. General Isaac Maliyamungu told me that I should not be scared into converting to Islam, did I suspect that my assassination attempt was for that purpose and not for being close to the Brigade Commander.
There was envy and jealousy among the troops from West Nile who seemed to feel that they should dominate the Command of the Uganda Armed Forces. Obviously, they were not happy for the promotion of Brigadier General Yorokamu Tizihwayo. The theory that the State Research Bureau (SRB) might have killed Yorokamu with the orders from President Amin, is completely unfounded. President Amin showed much trust in him on many occassions and that is why I believe, Lt. Colonel Moses Gala and Major Juma Ayiga tried to assassinate him.
During the 1978 / 79 war, Brig. Gen. Yorokamu was arrested by the members of the State Research Bureau and beaten. They were accusing him of colaboration with the enemy. President Amin personally ordered his release and assumption of his Command. Many of the troops under his Command fell into ambush by the enemy forces. I learnt later that he escaped from the front line and entered Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo). I tried to find his whereabouts, but the many people from the former Western Brigade that I asked after the war, claimed that he fled to Zaire. I regarded him as a friend, despite his very powerful position he held.
Rehema, the rumour that Brig. General Yorokamu Tizihwayo is dead, is because of his silence and the fact that he has not returned to his home in Ankole. However, many people have chosen to keep a very low profile and he might as well be one of them.
BJ. Rubin.
How did Brig.Gen.Yorokamu Tizihwayo disappear during Amin’s regime?
November 6, 2009 at 3:53 am (UPDF and Iddil Amin)
Albert said,
November 9, 2009 at 9:32 am
Dear JB Rubins,
Thank you so much on your efforts to try and demisfy the circumstances leading to the disappearance/death of Brig.Gen Y.B Tizihwayo.
You left the theory half way about the Brigadier being arrested & beaten by SRB agents hanging. Why the suspicion of him collaborating with the enermy by some sections of the state machinery, then being trusted by Amin who orders his immediate release.
I understand after his arrest by SRB agents, he never assumed back his command as is your case. Actually a certain Major Abiiriga(a muslim) took over command of the western brigade at around March 1979.
I believe he was murdered in cold blood by SRB agents on the orders of a certain Capt Mzee Yosa who at the time was second in command at SRB Nakasero
Please Mr. Rubins kindly throw more light so as to demisfy the circumstances
regarding your comrade in arms.
Thank you sir,
Albert.
ugandansatheart said,
November 10, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Dear Albert,
I appreciate your effort in trying to find out what happened to Brig. Gen. Yorokamu Tizihwayo. I wish I still had contact with my friends who were in the Western Brigade.
When President Idi Amin ordered the immediate release of Brig. Gen. Yorokamu Tizihwayo and assumption of Command, that was around January/February, 1979 when the Western Command under his command had re-taken Mbarara from the Tanzania Peoples’ Defence Forces (TPDF) who had driven out the Uganda Army troops. Shortly after his release, is when the Ugandan troops fell into an ambush by the TPDF. I was told by some of the soldiers of the Western command that they suspected Brig. Gen. Yorokamu Tizihwayo to have deliberately misled them into the ambush. That is when the rumour started that he had crossed into Zaire.
By March 1979 the Central Command of the Uganda Armed Forces had broken down. The Chief of Defence Staff, Maj. General Gowon had deserted the army and fled to his native Sudan. The Director of the State Research Bureau, Lt. Colonel Farouq Minawa had fled. Capt. Mzee Yosa remained at the SRB Headquarters at Nakasero, together with the SRB Adjutant, Lt. Jackson Kyalikunda. Many SRB operatives had also fled. The President ordered the reinforcement of the SRB by transferring many ”Nubians” or those who were considered loyal troops from the West Nile who spoke Kinubi to the SRB. Even the language of Military Signal communication had been changed from English and Kiswahili to Kinubi. There was confusion everywhere in the Uganda Security and Armed Forces establishment. At that time until the regime was officially declared ”Overthrown”, each soldier was on his own and had to find his own way to survive. Having mentioned that, I believe that Capt. Mzee Yosa could not have disrespected the orders of the President by ordering the murder of the Brigade Commander. The suspicion that Brig. General Yorokamu Tizihwayo deliberately misled his troops into ambush, is due to the humiliation and beating he suffered in the hands of the SRB operatives.
With the memory I have about that time, I believe that Brig. Gen. Yorokamu Tizihwayo deserted the army and fled to Zaire. I believe also that he returned to Uganda soon after the fall of Amin and might have been killed at the time ”Amin’s soldiers” had to be shot on sight, or killed during the harsh interrogation methods that were used at the time. It still hurts me to have lost such a gallant soldier and many others like him, who could have benefited the new Uganda National Liberation Army and our nation, Uganda.
Let me conclude here with hope that anyone who knows better what transpired at that time in question, will come forward. That will help us close this chapter of our history from our inquisitive minds. May God Bless Uganda.
BJ. Rubin.