Yusuf Gowon (born Yusuf Mogi; 1936 – 2 February 2024) 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.
Gowon subsequently settled in Zaire as a businessman. Unlike many of his former comrades, Gowon did not join any insurgent group during his exile. When the new Ugandan government of Yoweri Museveni offered him to return to his home country in 1994, he accepted and founded a nonprofit organization to help ex-combatants find civilian jobs. He also became head of a veterans association. In 2001, Gowon was arrested and tried for the suspected involvement in the murder of Eliphaz Laki during Amin's rule. The trial generated much publicity and was controversial, as some regarded it as important chance to finally address the crimes of Amin's dictatorship, while others claimed that it was politically motivated. Gowon denied involvement in Laki's murder, and was acquitted due to lack of evidence in 2003.
Biography Early life
Gowon was born as Yusuf Mogi in Ladonga, a village in the West Nile Province of the British Uganda Protectorate in 1936. His father Ibrahim was born a Catholic Christian and an ethnic Kakwa, but converted to Islam and adopted a Nubian identity; as a result, Gowon's cheeks were cut with three marks after his birth, signalling him belonging to the Nubians. Though his family was not wealthy, his father was a clan chieftain and owned some farmland. In his youth, Yusuf would help out on his family's farm by looking after its fields, goats and cows. Occasionally, he went hunting with bows and arrows.
Ibrahim could only afford to send one of his children to an Islamic primary school in the provincial capital of Arua; he chose Yusuf. To pay for his son's education, he sold some of his cattle to the disapproval of other clan elders who reminded Ibrahim that the West Nile region was too poor to offer any employment for educated men. Sending Yusuf to school was regarded as wasted money. Yusuf wanted to go to school, however, and convinced his father to pay a few years of tuition. In Arua, Yusuf stayed at the house of a family friend, working on the fields and helping in the household to earn his keep. Arua served as center for the British colonial troops, the King's African Rifles, and many of Yusuf's classmates adored the military. He was an exception in this regard, and showed no interest in military matters at all. His classmates regarded him as sociable prankster who would entertain others with jokes and songs. Yusuf was known for dressing fashionably, thereby earning the nickname "Goan". This was a reference to the city of Goa in India, as the region's best tailors were Indians. Having taken a great liking for the nickname, he eventually adopted it with slight changes as his official last name.
The West Nile Province was a poor region, and offered few occupation opportunities for young men. As a result, most of Gowon's friends joined the King's African Rifles when they finished primary school. In contrast, he opted to attend the junior high school, and subsequently an agricultural college. There, Gowon learned how to drive a tractor, and used his new skills to set up his own farm. This endeavor yielded little monetary gains, so Gowon decided to switch to working on a prison farm producing cotton in 1964. He enjoyed the work, and a British overseer taught him to repair the farm's machinery. Gowon later described this time as the happiest of his life.
Military service Early career and invasion of 1972
Gowon left the prisons service in 1968, and enlisted in the military. This decision partially stemmed from the changed political situation in Uganda. The country had become independent in 1962, and the Ugandan King's African Rifles units had been transformed into the Uganda Army. At the same time, politicians began to conspire and struggle for power, backed by the country's numerous tribal groups. By the late 1960s, the main opposing factions were led by Army chief of staff Idi Amin (mainly supported by the West Nile tribes) and President Milton Obote (mainly backed by the Acholi and Langi). In order to secure the power over the Uganda Army, both launched extensive recruitment drives to enlist as many members of their own respective tribal groups as possible. As a result, military service offered great social and financial rewards which appealed to Gowon despite his disinterest in warfare.
At first, Gowon was sent to a boot camp north of Kampala, Uganda's capital, where Amin was training a new elite unit. Obote considered this new unit a potential threat, however, and ordered its disbandment. As result, Gowon was reassigned to the military police, and later to the paratroopers trained by Israeli experts. At some point after 1969, he was among those sent to Greece for a course in commando tactics. In 1971, Amin launched a coup d'état and installed himself as President, though Obote found refuge in Tanzania. Amin's military dictatorship promptly purged the army of all those who were believed loyal to Obote, including most Acholi and Langi. The vacant leadership positions were then filled with soldiers who were loyal to Amin and usually from the West Nile Province. Gowon returned to Uganda after the coup's conclusion, and was promoted to major and appointed second-in-command of the Simba Battalion, stationed at Mbarara. Another Ugandan ex-officer later commented that Gowon was not prepared for such a promotion, and was just appointed because he belonged to Amin's own tribal group and religion. With the President as his personal patron, Gowon held great power over the Simba Battalion, probably more than the official commanding officer, Colonel Ali Fadhul.
Despite his inexperience, Gowon won some respect as second-in-command of the Simba Battalion, and was regarded as more polite and humane than other military officers who abused their power. While he was stationed at Mbarara, the Simba Battalion carried out numerous massacres of Acholi and Langi; Gowon later claimed that he knew nothing of any mass murders. On 17 September 1972, rebels loyal to Obote launched an invasion of Uganda from Tanzania. As Colonel Fadhul went missing amid the attack's early stages, Gowon was left in command of the Simba Battalion, and organized a counter-attack against a rebel column of 350 fighters. This counter-attack completely overwhelmed the rebels, most of whom were killed or captured. After Obote's invasion had been repelled, Amin ordered a purge of any possible rebel supporters throughout Uganda. One of Gowon's subordinates, Nasur Gille, later testified under disputed circumstances that Gowon ordered and organized the political murders in Mbarara. It is known that the commander had good connections to at least some members of the State Research Bureau, Amin's secret police organisation, and some victims of the purges as well as their families believe that Gowon ordered their deaths. Despite this, several residents of Mbarara argued that Gowon actually saved many lives during the mass killings. They later recalled that people had been marked for execution, but been freed on Gowon's orders. When questioned about his involvement in some political murders, the commander later told that "Any commanding officer who defended them [i.e. the victims]... When you defend, you become a collaborator", meaning one would in turn be marked for death.
Rise in the ranks Gowon's reputation improved due to his role in defeating Obote's invasion, and he consequently rose in the ranks. When Amin ordered the expulsion of Asians from Uganda, Gowon was one of those responsible for redistributing the properties of about 40,000 deported Indian businessmen. This job was not just profitable and made him quite wealthy, but helped him to forge political connections. He proved extremely adapt at politics, and gradually gained a reputation as "ruthless infighter" in the Uganda Army who would manipulate others to get his way. Nevertheless, Gowon almost fell from power after the Arube uprising, a coup attempt against Amin in 1974. An unidentified person told the President that Gowon was secretly a Christian which was enough to warrant suspicions about him being a supporter of the coup attempt. He was placed under house arrest, but Army Chief of Staff Mustafa Adrisi intervened on his behalf, allowing Gowon to be flown to Libya for medical treatment of a stomach ailment. In this way, he avoided the worst purges, and upon returning was even promoted to commander of a unit in eastern Uganda. Over the following years, Gowon rose to lieutenant colonel, colonel, and brigadier general. By 1976, he commanded the Eastern Brigade.
Around 1976, Gowon was again accused of treason as result of political conspiracies among Amin's inner circles. A rival alleged that he was in contact with anti-Amin rebels in Tanzania. He was arrested by the State Research Bureau, and, alongside his protector Adrisi, brought into the President's bureau. There, Amin told them that more evidence had surfaced about Gowon's support for the 1974 coup attempt, and had him ordered out of sight. Gowon believed that he was going to be executed. Adrisi fell on his knees and begged the President to reconsider, claiming that the entire affair was engineered by a clique of Nubians. Amin finally relented, and ordered Gowon back into the room. He then got everyone a cup of tea and told Gowon that he was spared. Regardless, the President also threatened that if the general was accused one more time of involvement in the 1974 coup, he would be executed.
Despite this incident, Gowon remained one of Amin's most trusted followers. The general would spy for the President on other officers, while trying to remove his own rivals. His military rivals referred to him as "snake" as a commentary on his apparent deft political abilities which facilitated his rise in the ranks. His political skills did not endear him to his subordinates who held little respect for him. They regarded Gowon as an "uneducated rube", and promoted far above his station. He was even derogatorily nicknamed "the tractor driver" by soldiers due to his past as a farmer. Some officers also disliked Gowon due to his tendency to circumvent them and deal with the lower ranks directly. In contrast, he was popular among the people of his birthplace, Ladonga, because he paid school tuition for local children, and built a primary school and a medical clinic.