Expulsion of Asians from Uganda

Rare card · No. 42574

In early August 1972, the President of Uganda Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave the country. At the time, South Asians in East Africa were simply known as "Asians". Having first arrived in the late 1800s as migrant laborers to build the Uganda Railway, they would go on to dominate trade in the country. The original August 4 order applied only to British subjects of South Asian origin, but was expanded on August 9 to citizens of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. It was later expanded to include 20,000 Ugandan citizens of South Asian ethnicities (later rescinded). At the time of the expulsion, there were about 80,000 individuals of Indian descent in Uganda, of whom 23,000 had their applications for citizenship both processed and accepted. The expulsion took place against the backdrop of anti-Indian sentiment and black supremacy in Uganda, with Amin accusing a minority of the Indians of disloyalty, non-integration, and commercial malpractice...

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