Nyerere defies Gaddafi’s 24-hour threat, captures Entebbe, Kampala

From The Citizen Daily, Dar es Salaam
By The Citizen Reporter

As the war continued with Tanzania troops heavily bombing Amin’s forces, Julius Kambarage Nyerere received an explicit threat from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, which shocked him.

The 24-hour threat was delivered in Dar es Salaam by Libya’s ambassador to Tanzania.

In a note delivered to Nyerere by the Libyan ambassador to Tanzania, Gaddafi demanded that Tanzanian troops be out of Uganda within 24 hours. If this was not done, Gaddafi said, Libya would enter the war on the side of Uganda.

The authors say Nyerere was somewhat taken aback, since he knew that Libya had already entered the war at Lukaya. Nyerere responded by going public with Gaddafi’s threat.

In a nationwide radio broadcast Nyerere disclosed that Gaddafi had warned that the war might spread into Tanzania. “The war is about to take on new dimensions,” Nyerere said, but assured Tanzanians that neither Libyan threats nor actions could change Tanzania’s view of Idi Amin.

Four days later a Libyan TU-22 supersonic bomber took off from Nakasongola air base in Uganda on a mission to bomb the Tanzanian town of Mwanza.

Read full story.