Juma Oris

Juma Abdalla Oris^[a] (died in March 2001) was a Ugandan military officer and government minister under the dictatorship of Idi Amin. After fleeing his country during the Uganda–Tanzania War, he became leader of the West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), a rebel group active in the West Nile region of Uganda during the 1990s.

Juma Oris
Oris as minister in the 1970s.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 25 May 1975 – 1978
Preceded by	Idi Amin (formally) Himself (as acting minister)
Succeeded by	Idi Amin
Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Uganda
In office ?–1978
Succeeded by	Idi Amin
Minister for Animal Resources and Minister of Lands
In office ?–1979
Personal details
Born	Northern Uganda or Nimule, Sudan
Died	March 2001 Khartoum or Juba, Sudan
Occupation	Military officer, politician, militia leader, mercenary
Military service
Allegiance	Uganda  Sudan
Branch/service	Uganda Army Sudanese Armed Forces Former Uganda National Army Uganda National Rescue Front West Nile Bank Front
Years of service	?–1979; 1980s–1990s
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	Uganda–Tanzania War Ugandan Bush War Insurgency in northern Uganda Second Sudanese Civil War (WIA)

Biography

Juma Abdalla Oris was born in northern Uganda,^[2][3] or Nimule in southern Sudan.^[4] He was an ethnic Madi^[4] and/or Nubian,^[2] as well as a Muslim.^[4][5] Oris received only minimal education,^[6] and eventually joined the Uganda Army, becoming a high-ranking colonel by the early 1970s.^[3]

Following the 1971 Ugandan coup d'état, he rose to one of the leading figures in Idi Amin's government. He first became acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, and was appointed full foreign minister on 25 May 1975.^[3] He stayed in this position until 1978,^[7] while also serving as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.^[8] Following his takeover of the Information Ministry, a series of new directives and restrictions were handed down to the Ugandan news industry. All newspapers had to print Amin's statements in full, and Radio Uganda and Uganda Television had to transmit them in full. In addition to this, the latter two had to open and close every broadcast with a daily national prayer. Oris also sharply criticised Uganda's two private newspapers, Munno and Taifa, for supposedly conveying false information about Amin because they were not printing the same stories as the government daily, the Voice of Uganda.^[9] He was regarded as follower of Vice President Mustafa Adrisi.^[10] Oris was dismissed from his position as foreign minister as well as all of his ministerial portfolios by Amin in 1978,^[11] probably as part of a political purge following Adrisi's removal from power.^[12] Officially, Amin claimed that Oris had been fired because Uganda's image abroad had been mismanaged and Ugandan diplomats had not been paid regularly under his tenure.^[13]

Shortly thereafter in late 1978, Ugandan troops invaded neighboring Tanzania under unclear circumstances, causing the Uganda–Tanzania War.^[14] Tanzania responded with a counter-invasion, and Amin's government began to collapse. Oris was one of the few Ugandan officers who remained loyal throughout most of the conflict.^[2] By 1979, he had been appointed Minister for Animal Resources^[7] and Minister of Lands.^[2] On 4 April 1979, Amin organized a four‐member war planning committee which consisted of his most trusted followers, including Oris. By this point, the Uganda Army had mostly disintegrated.^[2] After the Fall of Kampala, Oris fled with 3,000 cattle into exile to Sudan.^[7][1] He had good connections to the Sudanese security services by this point,^[4] and even joined the Sudanese Armed Forces as a mercenary at one point.^[15] He recruited West Nile people for a Sudanese contingent that fought in the Iran–Iraq War on behalf of Iraq.^[4] Using these connections, Oris helped to organize a coalition of ex-Uganda Army groups in the refugee camps of Sudan. These rebels launched an insurgency in 1980, starting the Ugandan Bush War.^[4] Oris became a member of the Former Uganda National Army (FUNA)^[16][15] as well as the Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF), both of which fought in the Bush War.^[4][17] In the late 1980s and early 1990s Joseph Kony, the leader of the rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army claimed to be possessed by the spirit of Juma Oris. It appears he was unaware that Oris was at the time still alive—something which he discovered when the two men eventually met in person.^[18]

Oris founded his own rebel army,^[17] called the "West Nile Bank Front" (WNBF), in 1994. Though founded in Zaire with the blessing of Mobutu Sese Seko,^[19] the group was mostly supported by the government of Sudan,^[7][20] as Mobutu's regime was already in terminal decline by this point.^[19] The WNBF fought for the secession of the West Nile sub-region^[15][21] or the restoration of Idi Amin as President of Uganda.^[15] Oris managed to gain support in northern Uganda by exploiting ethnic tensions and the lack of development opportunities in the area, offering potential recruits money in exchange for joining the WNBF.^[22] While waging an insurgency against the Ugandan government, Oris allegedly committed human rights violations by planting landmines in ambush attempts.^[23] He also fought with his followers in the Second Sudanese Civil War on the side of the Sudanese government. In March 1997, the WNBF and its allies suffered a heavy defeat when South Sudanese rebels of the SPLA overran their bases in Zaire and Sudan, and then ambushed their retreating forces near Yei during Operation Thunderbolt. Oris was badly wounded during this battle, and the WNBF almost completely destroyed.^[24][25] Most WNBF fighters, including deputy commander Abdulatif Tiyua, were killed or captured.^[26][27] Oris and the remnants of his militia subsequently fled to Juba.^[25] From then on, the WNBF was "essentially spent" as fighting force.^[15]

Having suffered a stroke in late 1999, Oris was bedridden from then on. His condition worsened in early 2001, and he died at his home in Juba or Khartoum in March 2001. This disproved earlier reports according to which he had been killed in battle with the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces. Oris was buried in Sudan.^[28][29]

Notes

1. Also known as Tana Abdalla Oris.^[1]

References

1. Wren, Christopher S. (13 June 1979). "Ugandan Refugees Finding A Haven in Southern Sudan". The New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
2. John Daimon (6 April 1979). "Libyan Troops Supporting Amin Said to Flee Kampala, Leaving It Defenseless". The New York Times. p. 9. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
3. Keesing's Record (1975), p. 7.
4. Leopold 2005, p. 44.
5. "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, Volume XVII, Part 2, Sub-Saharan Africa - Office of the Historian".
6. "Uganda: The Immediate Consequences of a Successful Effort to Topple President Amin". United States Central Intelligence Agency. 16 June 1977. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
7. Leopold (2001), p. 96.
8. "Zuviel Waragi". Der Spiegel (in German). 30 June 1975. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
9. Ocitti 2005, pp. 58–59.
10. Decalo 2019, The Collapse of a Dictator.
11. Decker 2014, p. 150.
12. Decker 2014, pp. 149–150.
13. Avirgan & Honey 1983, p. 50.
14. Roberts 2017, p. 156.
15. Day (2011), p. 452.
16. RLP (2004), p. 14.
17. RLP (2004), p. 1.
18. Allen (2006), p. 39.
19. Prunier (2004), p. 372.
20. Prunier (2004), pp. 363, 372.
21. "KAMPALA-POLITICS: Amin Stays Put In Jeddaha". Inter Press Service. 12 November 1995. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
22. RLP (2004), pp. 1, 14.
23. SUDAN
24. Leopold (2001), pp. 99–100.
25. Prunier (2004), p. 377.
26. Robert Elema (3 March 2018). . West Nile Web. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
27. Faustin Mugabe (14 May 2016). "I was condemned for being 'Amin's' soldier". Daily Monitor. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
28. Abbey, Yunusu (11 March 2001). "Juma Oris Is Dead Buried In Sudan". New Vision. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
29. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16.

Works cited

• Allen, Tim (2006). Trial Justice: the International Criminal Court and the Lord's Resistance Army. London: Zed Books. ISBN 1-84277-737-8.
• Avirgan, Tony; Honey, Martha (1983). War in Uganda: The Legacy of Idi Amin. Dar es Salaam: Tanzania Publishing House. ISBN 978-9976-1-0056-3.
• "B. UGANDA" (PDF). Keesing's Record of World Events. 21. August 1975.
• Day, Christopher R. (July 2011). "The Fates of Rebels: Insurgencies in Uganda". Comparative Politics. 43 (4): 439–458. doi:10.5129/001041511796301623. JSTOR 23040638.
• Decalo, Samuel (2019). Psychoses Of Power: African Personal Dictatorships. Routledge. ISBN 9781000308501.
• Decker, Alicia C. (2014). In Idi Amin's Shadow: Women, Gender, and Militarism in Uganda. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-4502-0.
• Leopold, Mark (2001). "'Trying to Hold Things Together?' International NGOs caught up in an Emergency in North-Western Uganda, 1996–97". In Ondine Barrow; Michael Jennings (eds.). The Charitable Impulse: NGOs & Development in East & North-East Africa. Oxford, Bloomfield: James Curry Ltd; Kumarian Press. pp. 94–108. ISBN 9781565491373.
• Leopold, Mark (2005). Inside West Nile. Violence, History & Representation on an African Frontier. Oxford: James Currey. ISBN 978-0-85255-941-3.
• "Negotiating Peace: RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS IN UGANDA'S WEST NILE REGION" (PDF). Refugee Law Project Working Paper (12). June 2004.
• Ocitti, Jim (2005). Press Politics and Public Policy in Uganda: The Role of Journalism in Democratization. Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 9780773459267.
• Prunier, Gérard (July 2004). "Rebel Movements and Proxy Warfare: Uganda, Sudan and the Congo (1986-99)". African Affairs. 103 (412): 359–383. doi:10.1093/afraf/adh050. JSTOR 3518562.
• Roberts, George (2017). "The Uganda–Tanzania War, the fall of Idi Amin, and the failure of African diplomacy, 1978–1979". In Anderson, David M.; Rolandsen, Øystein H. (eds.). Politics and Violence in Eastern Africa: The Struggles of Emerging States. London: Routledge. pp. 154–171. ISBN 978-1-317-53952-0.