How we fought to liberate Tanzania – Envoy

The High Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania to Nigeria, Dr Benson Alfred Bana, said he had a bullet on his leg while fighting to liberate his country from the Ugandan dictator, Idi Dada Amin, in 1979.

The envoy disclosed this at a media conference held at the Tanzanian High Commission in Abuja, on Saturday, preparatory to the 60th Independence Anniversary of Tanzania, to be celebrated from 4th – 9th December 2021.

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Bana said the “fascist” Amin invaded Tanzania in 1978, occupied 700 square kilometres of its territory, killed people, looted their property and destroyed their industries.

“Under the leadership of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, we resorted to OAU to resolve the conflict to no avail.

“Therefore, as a people, we have no option but to defend our territorial integrity and our sovereignty. So, we went into war.

“The person talking to you today was one of the fighters and I have a bullet scar on my leg to liberate our country, defend our unity and defend the independence that we are celebrating this year and this month,” he said.

Bana said the war he fought was conquered, Uganda was liberated and the fascist Idi Amin fled to Saudi Arabia while his supporters were arrested.

“We didn’t win the war because we have domesticated weapons, we won it because we have good leadership, patriotism and our country at heart.

“Everybody rally behind the soldiers, we liberated Uganda and installed the regime that is for the people,” he said.

The envoy also said, at the Independence Day Celebration, there will be a discussion on the position of women in Africa, adding that: “We all know that very few women make it into the organs of decision making in the African continent,”.

He cited former presidents of Liberia and Malawi as the only women that led their countries in Africa apart from the current president of Tanzania, Samia Hassan, adding that Africa should give more opportunities for women to participate in governance.