The relations between Uganda under Amin and Kenya experienced significant ups-and-downs from 1971 to 1979. Despite occasional tensions, however, the two countries maintained strong trade.
[95] Amin's hostility to Tanzania was beneficial to Kenya, as Kenyan leaders opposed Tanzania's socialist orientation.
[96] Kenyan President
Daniel arap Moi concluded in 1978 that the overthrow of Amin would primarily benefit ex-President
Milton Obote whom the Kenyan leadership deeply distrusted. As a result, according to journalists
Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey, the Kenyan government provided Amin with "support [...] literally until just before Tanzanian troops marched into Kampala".
[3] Conversely, political scientist Chris Ikalikha Musambayi characterised Moi's response to the war
vis-à-vis Amin's regime as marked by "ambiguity", which the Tanzanians interpreted as support for Uganda.
[97] Shortly after the outbreak of war, Nyerere appealed to Kenya to halt shipments of fuel to Uganda, but his request went unheeded.
[98] Amin's close adviser,
Bob Astles, told Indian diplomat
Madanjeet Singh that he had visited Moi in Kenya who had given him assurances that "Kenya shall give Uganda every transit facility that we need, and that he will tell President Nyerere not to interfere in Uganda's internal affairs."
[99] Kenyan authorities disrupted efforts of Ugandan exiles to organise in their country, arresting some guerillas and in a few instances turned them over to the Ugandan government.
[100] At the beginning of 1979 the Kenyan government restricted the movement of all Ugandan nationals in and out of the country,
[101] though some influential Kenyans such as opposition leader
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga continued to channel Ugandan rebels through the country.
[102]
In February, Amin publicly requested five countries, among them Kenya, to diplomatically intervene in the war and convince Tanzania to stop its invasion.
[103] In March Ugandan exiles attempted to leave the country to meet with others in Tanzania for a rebel unity conference but were detained at the border. The Kenyan government soon thereafter released them in Nairobi but refused to allow them to travel to the meeting, citing its "neutrality" in the war.
[101] In 1980,
The Ugandan Times, a newspaper overseen by Uganda's post-Amin government, accused Moi's government of aiding Amin during the war. The accusation was negatively received in Kenya.
[104]