Bazilio Olara-Okello
Who was Bazilio Olara-Okello?
Ugandan military officer who served as head of state from July 1985 to January 1986 as chairman of the Military Council. He came to power after overthrowing Milton Obote but was himself overthrown by Yoweri Museveni's forces.
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Bazilio Olara-Okello (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Bazilio Olara-Okello (1929 – 9 January 1990) was a Ugandan military officer who lived through some of the most turbulent times in his country's history after gaining independence. He was an ethnic Acholi from northern Uganda and worked his way up in the Ugandan military to become a leading commander in the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). In this role, he played a key part in the coalition of Ugandan exiles and Tanzanian forces that led the military operation to overthrow Idi Amin's brutal regime in 1979, changing the political scene in East Africa.
After Amin was overthrown, Uganda went through a period of instability with contested elections, ethnic tension, and civil strife. Milton Obote came back to power in 1980, but faced growing unrest from Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army (NRA). The Uganda National Liberation Army, now the country's armed forces, began to experience major ethnic divisions. Obote's choice to appoint Brigadier Smith Opon Acak, a fellow Lango, as army Chief of Staff over Acholi officers led to significant dissatisfaction among the Acholi-dominated officer corps, including Olara-Okello and General Tito Okello.
On 27 July 1985, Olara-Okello took action. An army brigade he commanded, made up mostly of Acholi soldiers, led a coup d'état against Obote's government. Obote was overthrown and fled the country. The National Assembly was dissolved, and a Military Council was set up to govern Uganda. For two days, from 27 to 29 July 1985, Olara-Okello was the Chairman of the Military Council, briefly making him the head of state of Uganda. On 29 July, General Tito Okello took over as Chairman of the Military Council and became head of state. In recognition of his role in the coup, Olara-Okello was promoted from Brigadier to Lieutenant General and became chief of the armed forces.
As commander of the army under the Okello military government, Olara-Okello managed Ugandan forces during ongoing and worsening conflict with Museveni's NRA. Attempts at peace talks were made, but fighting continued. The military government couldn't secure control of the country. On 26 January 1986, Museveni's NRA captured the capital, Kampala, and took over. Olara-Okello, along with other senior members of the outgoing government, fled to Sudan.
Olara-Okello spent the rest of his life in Sudan and never returned to Uganda. He passed away on 9 January 1990 at Omdurman Hospital in Khartoum, at the age of 60. He received the Kagera River Medal for his participation in the campaign that ended Idi Amin's rule.
Before Fame
Bazilio Olara-Okello was born in 1929 in Uganda, when it was still a British protectorate, and was part of the Acholi people in the northern region. Not much is widely known about his early life and education, but his military career placed him among a group of Ugandan officers who were trained during the last years of colonial rule and the early years after independence. Uganda became independent in 1962, and its new army was heavily made up of soldiers from the north, especially the Acholi and Langi peoples. This pattern, left over from British colonial recruitment, would have long-lasting political effects.
Olara-Okello's rise to importance came through the military institutions of post-independence Uganda, a time marked by coups, ethnic rivalries, and the disastrous rule of Idi Amin from 1971 to 1979. He solidified his experience as a military commander during the campaign to overthrow Amin, becoming one of the key UNLA figures fighting alongside Tanzanian forces. This campaign built his reputation and paved the way for his later involvement in Ugandan politics.
Key Achievements
- Served as a key UNLA commander in the 1979 campaign that overthrew Idi Amin in cooperation with Tanzanian forces.
- Led the coup d'état of 27 July 1985 that removed President Milton Obote from power.
- Served as Chairman of the Military Council and de facto head of state of Uganda from 27 to 29 July 1985.
- Attained the rank of Lieutenant General and served as chief of the armed forces of Uganda under the Okello military government.
- Awarded the Kagera River Medal for his role in the liberation of Uganda from Idi Amin's regime.
Did You Know?
- 01.Olara-Okello was head of state of Uganda for only two days, from 27 to 29 July 1985, one of the shortest tenures as head of state in modern African history.
- 02.He was promoted two full ranks, from Brigadier to Lieutenant General, on the same day he relinquished the chairmanship of the Military Council to General Tito Okello on 29 July 1985.
- 03.Despite his central role in both the 1979 overthrow of Idi Amin and the 1985 coup against Milton Obote, Olara-Okello died in exile in Sudan, never having returned to Uganda after Museveni's NRA took power in January 1986.
- 04.He received the Kagera River Medal, named after the Kagera region on the Uganda-Tanzania border where the military campaign against Idi Amin began in 1978–1979.
- 05.The coup he led on 27 July 1985 was driven in significant part by ethnic grievances within the army, specifically Acholi officers' anger at Obote's appointment of a Lango officer over their heads as Chief of Staff.
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Ribbon bar of the Kagera River Medal | — | — |