SUMMARY
UNLF (Uganda National Liberation Front) was a Ugandan umbrella rebel group created in 1979 to fight for the ouster of the Ugandan government of Idi Amin. Idi Amin had seized power from Milton Obote in a coup in 1971, and the following eight years had seen a plethora of opposition groups emerging among Ugandans in exile in Tanzania and Kenya. While initially attempting to set up a joint front against Amin, the groups were too disparate and between 1972 and 1978, two main armed movements materialized in the exiled anti-Amin camp, Kikosi Maalum and Fronasa. In January 1979, these two organizations, backed by Tanzanian troops, launched an invasion of Uganda, quickly forcing Amin’s troop to retreat. It was in this context that UNLF was created at the end of March 1979.
Between 24 and 26 March, a conference was held in Moshi, Tanzania, bringing together the disparate Ugandan opposition in exile, ranging from the two armed groups involved in the invasion, to pro-Obote discussion groups. By the end of the meeting, the new, broad-based movement UNLF had been set up under the leadership of Yusuf Lule. Fronasa and Kikosi Maalum joined the new movement and subsequently served as its armed forces, UNLA (Uganda National Liberation Army). On 27 March UNLF issued a statement, explaining that the objectives of the movement were “to coordinate the war efforts of the Ugandans and direct its successful conclusion, to establish the rule of law, to re-establish, maintain and defend human rights throughout the country […] To restore the democratic way of life for all our people and as soon as conditions permit, arrange free elections on the basis of universal adult franchise…”.
The new organization had four major branches. The National Consultative Council was the supreme organ with policy-making powers, while the National Executive Council was tasked with carrying out the council's policies. The group also had a Political and Diplomatic Commission that was set up to streamline political, administrative and diplomatic matters at home and abroad, as well as a Military Commission, which was to focus on the war effort as well as on creating a new army, once Amin had been defeated. While Fronasa and Kikosi Maalum were part of the new movement, they continued to be deployed separately.
The exact troop size of UNLF is unclear. What is known is that the two armed groups making up UNLA, Fronasa and Kikosi Maalum had recruited heavily after the January invasion and continued to do so after they had joined UNLF. At the time of the Moshi conference, Fronasa numbered at a minimum 3000, whereas Kikosi Maalum consisted of at least 1500 troops, probably more.
As described above, UNLF received substantial backing from Tanzania, which deployed troops to assist in the conflict against Amin’s regime. It is unclear if the group had other backers; the short time-span during which it operated as a rebel group - from 27 March to 11 April 1979 - points to the possibility that there might not have been others.
The capture of Kampala by combined Tanzanian and UNLF forces was completed on April 11, when the invaders took the transmitter of Radio Uganda and announced: “From today the oppressive and illegal regime of Idi Amin is no longer in power”. With that, UNLF seized power in the country and became the government of Uganda, thus ceasing to exist as an independent entity in UCDP data.
