“President Julius Nyerere Calls Former Ugandan President Yusufu Lule a 'Liar and a Fool' | July 1979”.
Wednesday, July 25th 1979.
Footage of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere giving a speech to Tanzanian troops returning from Uganda in which he referred to former Ugandan President, Yusufu Lule as a "liar and a fool".
Nyerere was speaking at a homecoming ceremony in the border village of Bunzai. Lule had accused Tanzania of wanting to "take over Uganda and impose socialism". Speaking in a BBC interview, he had claimed that the Tanzanian government intended to turn Uganda into a province of Tanzania.
Tanzanian troops had invaded Uganda and overthrown the government of Idi Amin. Nyerere insisted in an emotional two-hour speech that the Tanzanians had no designs on Uganda, and would help but that it would not involve itself in the internal affairs of Uganda -even though Lule had been ousted after disagreements with the Tanzanians.
Ugandan President Godfrey Binaisa, who was at the ceremony, expressed his thanks to the Tanzanians for helping to depose the Ugandan dictator.
Source: Reuters News Archives.
Note:
1. The decision of Tanzania to invade Uganda was a contentious issue that divided African nations. Some felt that it abrogated on the O.A.U. Charter which insisted on non-intervention in the affairs of member states. Others felt that it was justified because it brought to an end the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin.
2. Some have argued that the war with Uganda, which cost the Tanzanian's a large amount of money, added to other pressures which in the long-term brought an end to Nyerere's commitment to development economics and the objectives of Ujamaa socialism. Tanzania would later subscribe to the neoliberal regime of the Western-backed global financial institutions.