The tyranny of Idi Amin -- and limits of a British welcome
The plane carrying 193 passengers circled down over London Stansted Airport, where a cluster of journalists were waiting to document its arrival. Stepping onto the tarmac under typically gray English skies, the families clutched their scant possessions in briefcases and boxes, saris flowing in the wind.
Five decades after the first evacuation flight of Ugandan Asians touched down in the United Kingdom on September 18, 1972, their story has been held up as a triumph of British generosity and migratory success.
But the back story is less heroic, as the British government first tried to send them anywhere else.
In early August 1972, Uganda's brutal military dictator Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of the country's entire Asian population -- including my grandparents.… Seguir leyendo »