Juma Oris
| Juma Oris | |
|---|---|
| Foreign Minister of Uganda | |
|
In office 1975–1978 | |
| Preceded by | Idi Amin |
| Succeeded by | Idi Amin |
| Minister for Animal Resources | |
|
In office 1978–1979 | |
| Personal details | |
| Died |
March 2001 Khartoum |
| Occupation | Military officer, politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 West Nile Bank Front (1990s) |
| Service/branch | Uganda People's Defence Force (until 1979) |
| Years of service | ?–1979; 1990s |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars |
Uganda–Tanzania War Insurgency in northern Uganda Second Sudanese Civil War (WIA) |
Colonel Juma Oris Abdalla (1933? - March 2001) was a Ugandan military officer and 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 sub-region of Uganda during the early 1990s.
Biography
Juma Oris Abdalla (formally known as Juma Oris) was born and grew up in Uganda in around 1933. He served with the Uganda People's Defence Force and was a high ranking colonel by the early 1970s. He became a minister in Idi Amin's government (serving as foreign minister from 1975 to 1978, and as Minister for Animal Resources by 1979[1]), and fled Uganda in early 1979 shortly before the fall of Amin's government during the Uganda–Tanzania War. Oris managed to take 3,000 head of cattle with him while escaping to Sudan.[1] 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.[2]
Sometime in the 1990s, Oris became the leader of a rebel faction (called the "West Nile Bank Front") which was backed by the government of Sudan[1] and fought for the seccession of the West Nile sub-region.[3] Oris allegedly to committed human rights violations by planting landmines in ambush attempts in northern Uganda during the mid-1990s.[4] 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 around Yei. Oris was badly would during this battle, and the WNBF almost completely destroyed.[5]
Having suffered a stroke in late 1999, Oris died in Khartoum in March 2001 not as alleged in fighting with the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces as reported by the Africa Research Bulletin of July 2001.[6]
References
- 1 2 3 Leopold (2001), p. 96.
- ↑ Allen (2006), p. 39.
- ↑ "KAMPALA-POLITICS: Amin Stays Put In Jeddaha". Inter Press Service. 12 November 1995. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ↑ SUDAN
- ↑ Leopold (2001), pp. 99–100.
- ↑ "2005-07 UK Home OGN Uganda" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16.
Bibliography
- Allen, Tim (2006). Trial Justice: the International Criminal Court and the Lord's Resistance Army. London: Zed Books. ISBN 1-84277-737-8.
- 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. The Charitable Impulse: NGOs & Development in East & North-East Africa. Oxford, Bloomfield: James Curry Ltd; Kumarian Press. pp. 94–108.