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Bob Astles (born 1924), called Lubowa among the Ngo clan, was a former British soldier who lived in Uganda and became an associate of Idi Amin. Idi Amin Dada (c. ...
Astles was born in Ashford, Kent, United Kingdom. As a teenager, he joined the Indian Army and then the Royal Engineers, reaching the rank of sergeant. He was twenty one when he left Britain for Africa seeking adventure. His first job in Uganda was as a building foreman, then with £100 he set up Uganda Aviation Services Ltd, the first airline in Uganda to employ Africans. In 1958, aged thirty four, he married Monica, who had come with him from Kent. A year later, after they had divorced, Astles married an aristocratic member of the Bugandan kingdom, Mary Ssen-Katukka, and they had two children. As Uganda's independence approached in 1962, Astles became involved with a number of political groups. One of these was led by Milton Obote, who led the country to independence. Astles worked in his government until the 1971 coup d'état, when he transferred his allegiance to Idi Amin. Ashford is a town spanning the confluence of the River Upper Great Stour, River East Stour, Aylesford Stream, Whitewater Dyke, Ruckinge Dyke and the resulting River Great Stour, in the borough of Ashford, located just south of the North Downs, in Kent, United Kingdom. ...
The Indian Army is the largest branch of the Armed Forces of India and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. ...
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. ...
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organisations around the world. ...
The flag of Buganda Buganda is the kingdom of the 52 clans of the Baganda people, the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day Uganda. ...
Obote pictured at the beginning of his second regime in 1980 Apollo Milton Obote (December 28, 1924, Apac, Uganda – October 10, 2005, Johannesburg, South Africa), Prime Minister of Uganda 1962-1966 and President of Uganda 1966-1971/1980-1985, was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence in...
A coup d’état (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ...
In December 1971 suspicion fell on Astles because of his previous support for Obote. Amin sent him to Makindye prison where he spent seventeen weeks, often shackled and brutally interrogated. Astles later said, "Amin called me a 'rotten apple' on the radio, and nationalised my airline. It was ordinary Africans who helped me to survive. One guard was kicked to death for helping me." Astles stayed in Uganda and periodically worked in Amin's service, while running a pineapple farm. He also presided over an aviation service flying members of the government. Astles later said "I kept my eyes shut, I said nothing about what I saw, which is what they liked".
In 1975 Bob Astles joined Amin's service, becoming the head of the anti-corruption squad and advised the president on British affairs. Until today, what Astles did or did not do during Amin's brutal tenure is conjecture. He was feared, and considered by many to be a malign influence on the dictator; others thought he was a moderating presence. He came to be known as "Major" Bob (the title of Major was given to him by Idi Amin) or "the White Rat".
Following the Uganda-Tanzania War which led to the demise of Idi Amin's regime in 1979, he fled to Kenya, but was brought back to Uganda to face criminal charges. Astles was imprisoned on account of his alleged association with Amin's security apparatus. He was charged with everything from murder and corruption to theft. After serving six and a half years in Luzira prison, he was released and returned to Britain in 1985. He continues to deny the allegations against him. Combatants Uganda Libya Tanzania Peoples Defence Force & Uganda National Liberation Army Commanders Idi Amin Tanzanian army: Julius Nyerere UNLF: Tito Okello, Yoweri Museveni, David Oyite-Ojok Strength 3,000 Libyans, unknown number of Ugandan Army troops 100,000 Tanzanians, unknown number of Ugandan resistance troops, unknown number of Rwandan...
Bob Astles currently lives in Wimbledon, London. He was played by Leonard Trolley in the 1982 movie Amin: The Rise and Fall; the fictional character Nicholas Garrigan in the book and film The Last King of Scotland was very loosely based on events in the life of Astles.[1] Wimbledon (pronounced ) is a suburb of London, part of the London Borough of Merton and located seven miles (11. ...
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, also known as Amin: The Rise and Fall, is a bloody exploitation film and biopic directed in 1980 by Sharad Patel and starring Joseph Olita as Idi Amin. ...
The Last King of Scotland is an award-winning first novel by journalist Giles Foden. ...
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