Moses Ali

Last updated
General
Moses Ali
Ali, Moses.jpg
Born (1939-04-05) 5 April 1939 (age 85)
Adjumani District, Protectorate of Uganda
NationalityUgandan
CitizenshipUganda
Alma mater Makerere University
(Bachelor of Laws)
Law Development Centre
(Diploma in Legal Practice) [1]
Occupation(s) Military Officer, Lawyer & Politician
Years active1971 — present
Known for Politics, Military

Moses Ali (born 5 April 1939) is a Ugandan politician and retired military general. [2] He is the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of Government Business in Parliament. [3] He previously served in the Cabinet of Uganda as Third Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of Government Business from May 2011 until June 2016. [4] He also served as the first First Deputy Prime Minister from June 2016 to May 2021. [5] He has served as the elected Member of Parliament for East Moyo County in Adjumani District since 2011. [6]

Contents

Background and education

Moses Ali hails from Adjumani District [7] (former Madi District) [8] in northern Uganda. He was born on 5 April 1939. [7] He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Makerere University. He also holds the Diploma in Legal Practice, from the Law Development Center in Kampala. Moses Ali also holds qualifications from military educational institutions in Uganda, Israel and the United Kingdom. [6] He is a Muslim. [9]

Career

Ali was involved in the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état that overthrew President Milton Obote and brought Idi Amin to power. He consequently rose in the ranks during the Second Republic of Uganda, when Amin ruled the country. Moses Ali was appointed Minister of Finance. [7] Journalists Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey described him as one of Amin's "closest henchmen". [8] As Minister of Finance, he used his position to organize an Islamic charity. This garnered him a lot of popular support, but also raised Amin's suspicions, [10] as he feared Ali was attempting to construct a Muslim political base of support. [11] Indeed, Moses Ali gained many followers within the Uganda Army. [8]

In April 1978, the President organized a meeting in the capital Kampala, where he railed against ministers whom he deemed disloyal, too powerful or incompetent, including Moses Ali. Accusing the Minister of Finance of mismanaging the Bank of Uganda, gross corruption, [10] mishandling Muslim Supreme Council funds, and ignoring orders by the government, [8] Amin became so angry during his speech that he threw a trashcan at Ali. Having realized that his situation was untenable, Ali got away as soon as possible. He quietly snuck out of Kampala in his private car and fled to his home in the West Nile Region. When he got there, however, a group of hitmen attacked him, but he fended them off in a gunfight. Ali was convinced that his downfall and the attempted assassination had been organized by the Uganda Army commander Yusuf Gowon, a long-time rival of his. [10] Amin subsequently stripped him of all of his military honours. [12] However, Amin was still wary of Ali's large following, and only formally fired him from his ministerial portfolio in August 1978. [8] Around October, ten SRB agents attempted to arrest Ali, but were killed. [13]

When Amin's regime collapsed during the Uganda–Tanzania War of 1978–1979, Ali fled into exile in southern Sudan, finding refuge in Nimule. [14] In the 1980s he led the Uganda National Rescue Front in an armed rebellion against the government of reinstated President Milton Obote, [7] and became a warlord ruling a fief in southern Sudan. [15] Among the insurgents of the early Ugandan Bush War, he waged the "most effective guerrilla campaign". [16] Using his influence and military powers to his advantage, Ali eventually negotiated a favorable deal with Yoweri Museveni who took power as President at the Bush War's end in 1986. His forces were integrated into Uganda's new national army, the National Resistance Army which later became the Uganda People's Defence Force, and he was appointed a Major General. [15] As a result of his powerful position in Uganda's new government and military, Ali became highly influential and quite wealthy. [15]

Ali even rose to First Deputy Prime Minister in Museveni's government. He served in the Ugandan Parliament from 2001. [7] He was further promoted to Lieutenant General on 13 March 2003, [6] [17] but lost both his parliamentary seat and his ministerial appointment in 2006. In 2011, at the age of 72, he regained his position in parliament and was assigned new cabinet responsibilities. [7] In the next year, Ali was once again promoted to the rank of general in the Uganda People's Defence Force. [2] [18] In 2016, following his re-election to parliament, he was again appointed First Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of Government Business in Parliament. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uganda People's Defence Force</span> Armed forces of Uganda

The Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), previously known as the National Resistance Army, is the armed forces of Uganda. From 2007 to 2011, the International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the UPDF had a total strength of 40,000–45,000, consisting of land forces and an air wing. Recruitment to the forces is done annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Obote</span> Ugandan prime minister and president (1925–2005)

Apollo Milton Obote was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eriya Kategaya</span> Ugandan lawyer and politician

Eriya Kategaya was a Ugandan lawyer and politician. At the time of his death he was Uganda's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs. He was also an ex officio Member of the Ugandan Parliament, on account of being a cabinet minister.

Yusuf Kironde Lule was a Ugandan professor and politician who served as the fourth president of Uganda between 13 April and 20 June 1979.

The Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) was a Ugandan rebel group led by Yoweri Museveni. The group factually emerged in 1971, although it was formally founded in 1973. FRONASA, along with other militant groups such as Kikosi Maalum, formed the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) and its military wing the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) in 1979 to fight alongside Tanzanian forces against Idi Amin.

The Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) refers to two former armed rebel groups in Uganda's West Nile sub-region that first opposed, then became incorporated into the Ugandan armed forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uganda–Tanzania War</span> 1978–1979 armed conflict in East Africa

The Uganda–Tanzania War, known in Tanzania as the Kagera War and in Uganda as the 1979 Liberation War, was fought between Uganda and Tanzania from October 1978 until June 1979 and led to the overthrow of Ugandan President Idi Amin. The war was preceded by a deterioration of relations between Uganda and Tanzania following Amin's 1971 overthrow of President Milton Obote, who was close to the President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere. Over the following years, Amin's regime was destabilised by violent purges, economic problems, and dissatisfaction in the Uganda Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ugandan Bush War</span> Guerrilla war in Uganda 1980–1986

The Ugandan Bush War was a civil war fought in Uganda by the official Ugandan government and its armed wing, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), against a number of rebel groups, most importantly the National Resistance Army (NRA), from 1980 to 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fall of Kampala</span> Battle in the Uganda–Tanzania War, April 1979

The Fall of Kampala, also known as the Liberation of Kampala, was a battle during the Uganda–Tanzania War in 1979, in which the combined forces of Tanzania and the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) attacked and captured the Ugandan capital, Kampala. As a result, Ugandan President Idi Amin was deposed, his forces were scattered, and a UNLF government was installed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1985 Ugandan coup d'état</span>

The 1985 Ugandan coup d'état was an ethnically motivated military takeover in Uganda involving dissident Acholi elements within the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA), led by Brigadier Basilio Olara Okello, which successfully ousted the second Milton Obote government. The army promptly named General Tito Okello Lutwa as President of the Military Council, only for him to be ousted six months later by Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA).

Zoka Forest is a natural tropical rain forest in the Northern Region of Uganda. The forest is a component of the larger East Moyo Wildlife Reserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Lukaya</span> 1979 battle of the Uganda–Tanzania War

The Battle of Lukaya was a battle of the Uganda–Tanzania War. It was fought on 10 and 11 March 1979 around Lukaya, Uganda, between Tanzanian forces and Ugandan government forces. After briefly occupying the town, Tanzanian troops and Ugandan rebels retreated under artillery fire. The Tanzanians subsequently launched a counterattack, retaking Lukaya and killing hundreds of Libyans and Ugandans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Ibingira</span> Ugandan lawyer and politician

Grace Stuart Katebariirwe Ibingira was a Ugandan lawyer and politician.

Ali Muhammed Kiiza is a retired Ugandan Major General, in the UPDF Air Force, who serves as a Senior Military Adviser to the President of Uganda. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Pilot to six Heads of State in the Government of Uganda, from 1973 until 2012.

Yusuf Gowon was a Ugandan military officer who served as chief of staff for the Uganda Army during the dictatorship of Idi Amin. Originally a farmer, Gowon quickly rose through the ranks of the military due to a combination of happenstance and his political skills. Compared with other high-ranking officials of Amin's regime, he was regarded as humane; nevertheless, he was probably involved in some political murders. His appointment as chief of staff was mostly owed to the fact that President Amin regarded him as loyal, not ambitious, and no threat to his own rule. Gowon's lack of talent for tactics and strategy came to the fore when the Uganda–Tanzania War broke out in 1978, and his leadership of the Uganda Army during this conflict was extensively criticised. Many of his comrades and subordinates even blamed him for Uganda's defeat in the conflict with Tanzania. When Amin's regime began collapsing in 1979 and his own soldiers intended to murder him, Gowon fled Uganda.

The Uganda Army, also known as the Uganda Rifles, served as the national armed forces of Uganda during the presidencies of Mutesa II and Milton Obote. As time went on, the military was gradually expanded and increasingly interfered in Uganda's national politics. It played a prominent role in defeating local insurgencies, suppressing opposition to Obote, and intervened in conflicts in the Congo as well as Sudan. Dissatisfied soldiers overthrew Obote in 1971, resulting in the establishment of the Second Republic of Uganda under the dictatorship of army commander Idi Amin. The Uganda Army was purged, with thousands of suspected pro-Obote troops killed or fleeing the country. The military was consequently split into an army serving under Amin – the Uganda Army (1971–1980) – and exiled rebel factions. The latter helped to overthrow Amin's regime during the Uganda–Tanzania War of 1978–79, and became the core of the Uganda National Liberation Army which would serve as Uganda's national military from 1980 to 1986.

The Save Uganda Movement was a militant Ugandan opposition group which fought against the government of President Idi Amin from 1973 to 1979. Described as "specialists in sabotage" by journalist John Darnton, SUM attempted to overthrow Amin by waging a guerrilla campaign of bombings, raids, and assassinations. The movement mainly operated from Kenya and Tanzania. Unlike much of the Ugandan opposition at the time, SUM had no firm ideology and was decentralized, consisting of different groups with similar aims, the principal one being the ouster of Idi Amin. SUM cooperated with the forces loyal to ex-President Milton Obote during the Uganda–Tanzania War (1978–1979) and eventually joined the Uganda National Liberation Front which formed the country's post-Amin governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 invasion of Uganda</span> Tanzania-backed attempt to overthrow Idi Amin

The 1972 invasion of Uganda was an armed attempt by Ugandan insurgents, supported by Tanzania, to overthrow the regime of Idi Amin. Under the orders of former Ugandan President Milton Obote, insurgents launched an invasion of southern Uganda with limited Tanzanian support in September 1972. The rebel force mostly consisted of the "People's Army" whose forces were mainly loyal to Obote, but also included guerillas led by Yoweri Museveni. The operation was hampered by problems from the start, as a planned rebel commando raid had to be aborted, Amin was warned of the impending invasion, and the rebels lacked numbers, training, and equipment. Regardless, the militants occupied a few towns in southern Uganda at the invasion's start. However, no major popular uprising erupted as Obote had hoped.

In October 1980, Uganda's West Nile Region was the site of a major military campaign, as Uganda Army (UA) remnants invaded from Zaire as well as Sudan and seized several major settlements, followed by a counteroffensive by the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) supported by militias and Tanzanian forces. The campaign resulted in large-scale destruction and massacres of civilians, mostly perpetrated by the UNLA and allied militants, with 1,000 to 30,000 civilians killed and 250,000 displaced. The clashes mark the beginning of the Ugandan Bush War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Rwehururu</span> Ugandan military officer (1941–2015)

Bernard Rwehururu was a Ugandan military officer and author. He served in various Ugandan militaries from 1965 until 2013, including under the governments of Milton Obote, Idi Amin, Tito Okello, and Yoweri Museveni.

References

  1. ↑ Ssenkabirwa, Al-Mahdi (9 August 2010). "Army Officials Finally Pass LDC Exams". Daily Monitor (Kampala). Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 Tegulle, Gawaya (31 July 2012). "General Moses Ali's Promotion: How Did He Earn The Four Stars?". Daily Monitor . Kampala. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Final cabinet list: Jessica Alupo new vice president". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
  4. ↑ "Comprehensive List of New Cabinet Appointments & Dropped Ministers". Facebook.com . 27 May 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 Uganda State House (6 June 2016). "Uganda's New Cabinet As At 6 June 2016". Scribd.com. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 POU. "Profile of Ali Moses, Member of Parliament for East Moyo County, Adjumani District". Kampala: Parliament of Uganda (POU). Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Natukunda, Carol (24 April 2013). "Amin Played Moses Ali Against Yusuf Gowon". New Vision . Kampala. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 50.
  9. ↑ The ‘nubians' of East Africa: Muslim club or African “tribe”? The view from within Omari H. Kokole // Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, University of Michigan, 2007-03-20. Retrieved 2024-04-25.
  10. 1 2 3 Rice 2009, p. 198.
  11. ↑ Kasozi 1994, p. 109.
  12. ↑ Kasozi 1994, p. 122.
  13. ↑ Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 56.
  14. ↑ Wren, Christopher S. (13 June 1979). "Ugandan Refugees Finding A Haven in Southern Sudan". The New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  15. 1 2 3 Rice 2009, p. 264.
  16. ↑ Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 231.
  17. ↑ Mukiibi, Hellen (23 May 2004). "Museveni Creates New UPDF Generals". New Vision (Kampala). Archived from the original on 28 May 2004. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  18. ↑ Mutaizibwa, Emma (18 July 2012). "Moses Ali Joins Exclusive UPDF Generals' Club". The Observer (Uganda) . Retrieved 13 February 2015.

Works cited

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.