Ugandan Asians

• Tasks
• Background
• Teachers' notes
• External links
• Connections to curriculum

On 4 August 1972, General Idi Amin, leader of Uganda declared his intension to expel all Asian passport holders from Uganda. This was regardless of whether they were British nationals. He argued that since they had all been British subjects at some point, he was right to include even those who had taken out Ugandan citizenship.  

What was the impact of this decision on the lives of Ugandan Asians? What did it mean to become stateless? What was Amin’s motivation for this policy? How did the British Government respond to his actions? What was the reaction of the British public? 

Use this lesson to find original documents and video testimonies which explore the expulsion of Ugandan Asians and their experience as refugees in Britain.  

This lesson has been developed with the support of the British Ugandan Asians at 50, a programme of the India Overseas Trust. We are grateful for their generosity in supplying the video testimonies included in this lesson. 

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Tasks

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Background

Following a miliary coup in 1971, General Idi Amin became leader of Uganda. However, it was his decision to expel Asians that was to stun many across the world when he announced on 4 August 1972 that all Asian passport holders needed to leave Uganda. Later in the month, Amin announced that he wanted all Asians expelled, regardless of whether they were British nationals or not. He argued that since they had all been British subjects at some point, he was right to include even those who had taken out Ugandan citizenship. The net result was to create a category of person who was neither British nor Ugandan, but stateless.    

General Amin was in a line of African leaders who wanted to promote Africa-first policies. However, he took this to new and unprecedented lengths with his announcement to expel Asians in 1972. Many Ugandan Asians were descended from merchants and workers brought over during the period of British rule and had become very successful businesspeople who were contributing to the economy. Ugandan Asians were also the target of resentment because of their success or because of their treatment of other ethnic Ugandans. Amin had already voiced his view that Ugandan Asians had benefited from colonial rule while at the same time being disloyal to Uganda. At the time of his announcement, the Conservatives were in power in Britain, led by Edward Heath. The Heath government were quick to respond and take up the responsibility to accept Ugandan Asians with British nationality despite the strong anti-immigrant views of the public at the time. Amin’s announcement came at a particularly difficult time for the British government.  This was a period of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment fuelled by politicians like Enoch Powell. 

The British government wanted wider international support by making the expulsion a humanitarian and refugee issue. They encouraged other countries to host Asians who were expelled from Uganda, and this paid off to some degree as various offers from different countries came in. The Conservative government also tried to capitalise on the effort it had made to welcome the Ugandan Asians, highlighting its humanitarian values. The government set up a Ugandan Resettlement Board to organise the reception of new arrivals and their dispersal to specially kitted out centres. Apart from meeting the needs of new arrivals for food and accommodation, classes were provided about living in Britain. 

The first evacuation flights to the UK, organised by the UK government landed at Stanstead airport on 18 September 1972. Over the course of September and November 1972 many of those arriving were resettled in 16 temporary settlement centres managed by the Uganda Resettlement Board. These were people who had nowhere else to go and were housed by the Board in disused Army and RAF bases. Conditions in the camps were poor and they were often situated in isolated locations. The armed forces and voluntary organisations played a key role in in helping to prepare the camps. The Board had also identified ‘Red Areas’ where it discouraged Asians from settling due to high concentrations of Commonwealth immigrants, preferring to encourage people to go to ‘Green Areas’ where they would receive assistance with housing and finding work.  

Were they refugees, subjects or foreigners? By framing the crisis in terms of refugees, the British government tried to maximise the support it could get internationally, however, this fed confusion particularly in the press who referred to Asians from Uganda as refugees. Those Asians made stateless by taking on Ugandan citizenship found that while Britain resisted accepting them, some countries were willing to assist them. As a result, some people found themselves in a state of limbo, for example living in a European country, uncertain of their futures. Typically, a wife might have a British nationality and be able to stay in Britain while her husband would be stateless, and living elsewhere, because he had taken Ugandan citizenship. The crisis created a diplomatic headache for Britain which had to rein in the excesses of Amin by appealing to African and other world leaders for help, while at the same time ensuring that it did not lose its position of access and influence with Amin. 

 

Books for further reading

Bharti Dhir: “Worth. An inspiring True Story of Abandonment, Exile, Inner Strength and Belonging” Hay House UK Ltd. 2021. ISBN: 9781788174855 

Giles Foden: “The Last King of Scotland” Orion Publishing Co. 2021 ISBN: 9781474624275 

Lucy Fulford: “The Exiled: Empire, Immigration and the Ugandan Asian Exodus”, Coronet, 2023. ISBN: 9781399711173, 1399711172 

Mahmood Mamdani: “From Citizen to Refugee: Ugandan Asians Come to Britain” Pambazuka Press, 2011. ISBN: 9781906387570 

Manzoor Moghal: “Idi Amin”. Author House, 2010, ISBN: 9781449039745

Shezan Muhammedi: “Gifts from Amin: Ugandan Asians in Canada (Studies in Immigration and Culture) University of Manitoba Press. 2022. ISBN: 9780887552830 

Noreen Nasim: “Expelled from Uganda”, Amazon Digital Services LLC – KDP Print US, 2021.  ISBN: 9798501109124 

Urmila Patel: “Out of Uganda in 90 days”. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014. ISBN: 1500774294 

Neema Shah: “Kololo Hill”, Pan Macmillan, 2022, ISBN: 9781529030549 

Nikesh Shukla: “The Good Immigrant” Publisher: Unbound, 2017.  ISBN: 9781783523955 

Hafsa Zayyan: “We are all Birds of Uganda”, Cornerstone. 2022. ISBN: 9781529118667 

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Teachers' notes

The purpose of this lesson is to allow students to use original sources to explore the impact of the expulsion from Uganda on the lives of British Asians.   

All original documents used in the lesson come from the collections at The National Archives and include letters, parliamentary debates, and newspaper articles. We hope the documents show differences in government opinion. We have also included four oral testimonies from Ugandan Asians as well so that students can learn importance of examining a range of sources including testimony alongside documentary evidence. These testimonies importantly help provide a sense of shared culture and right to come here, impact of migration on their lives including advantages and disadvantages. We hope this will enable them to discover the value of oral testimony and the kind of information that government documents might not provide. 

The first source is an extract from a Cabinet paper concerning the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s response to General Amin’s threat to expel Uganda Asians. It gives students some context on why they came come to Britain. However, it is useful to discuss with students how the oral testimony provides more understanding about the human impact of this decision, sense of crisis, the emotion of leaving, the loss of family and friends. Students also gain incidental detail about the bureaucracy involved in the decision and that not all Ugandans felt hostility towards the Asians. 

The second source includes extracts from a debate in the House of Commons about the Government’s handling of the Ugandan Asians expulsion on 6 December 1972.  This allows students to explore two different viewpoints about the settlement of Ugandan Asians in Britain and how they were received. The first extract includes comments made by Mr Timothy Raison M.P. (Aylesbury 1970 -1992) and the second by Arthur Lewis M.P (West Ham North from 1950 to 1974). Students should compare these to the oral testimony provided. How far does it support either of these viewpoints. What does it reveal about the Ugandan experience of settlement? What is the value of this testimony?  

The third source offers opportunity to examine the role of settlement camps. It is a letter from the Department of Environment recounting the impressions of Minister Eldon Griffiths after a visit to Hemswell resettlement centre. The document allows students to find out about preparations for the arrival of Ugandan Asians; issues around supporting their housing and employment; their possible experience of moving to Britain. The oral testimony, however, provides a unique perspective through the eyes of young person and their experience of the education system and offers an interesting counterpoint. Teachers can encourage students to consider the value of both types of evidence, their advantages, and disadvantages. 

The final documentary source is an extract from the Times Newspaper dated, 26th September 1973 entitled ‘250 Asian families cut off from fathers.’ The newspaper extract provides a window into how families were separated and forced to settle in designated areas.  It is worth pointing out that BUA50 website on Prejudice can help students understand Red/Green areas: Prejudice | bua50 . The newspaper also discusses the findings of the Report of the Coordinating Committee for the welfare of Evacuees from Uganda’. Students are encouraged to evaluate what this means and the challenges it describes. What does it mean to be stateless? Use this letter, signed by a group of Ugandan Asian women in 1973/4 asking the government for permission for their husbands to join them in Britain, HO 289/90 to help discuss. 

How does this fit into the context of the Immigration Act 1971? Finally, students can also explore an oral testimony which gives evidence of the shock and trauma felt by those having to live in another country and experience a new culture. 

Students could work in pairs or small groups to discuss the questions and report back to the class, or they could work individually. All documents are transcribed, and difficult text explained in square brackets. 

Extension questions and discussions.

• Group discussion topics: What would it be like to be stateless? Separated from family? Advantages in being with community? What about impact of government policy on attempts to spread the UAs across the UK?   

• How does the experience of the Ugandan Asian experience compare to that of those travelled from the Caribbean after 1945?  

• Extend your study on Uganda Asians by using further the original documents from this online exhibition Marking the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Ugandan Asians in Britain (2022) – The National Archives 

Examine the following examples: 

FCO 53/285  

An extract from a report produced in September 1972 by the Law Officers Department of the Home Office outlining the British government’s responsibility to accept the Ugandan Asians. 

• Why was Britain responsible to accept the settlement of Asians expelled from Uganda?  

FCO 73/163 

This telegram, dated 5th January 1973, sets out the British Government’s official reaction to General Amin’s expulsion of Ugandan Asians. 

• How would have the losses felt by the refugees been so significant in the short and long term? 

• What insight does this source give about the motivation behind the expulsion? 

FCO 89/10  

This account of a meeting held on the 15 August 1972 between Geoffrey Ripon and General Amin shows the difficulties in pursuing diplomatic relations between Uganda and the UK at the time of  the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians 

• What issues did the expulsion create for Britain’s relationship with Uganda? 

CAB 129/164 f.1-2 

This memorandum of 6th December 1972 outlines the issues and steps being taken by the Government following General Amin’s decision to expel the Ugandan Asians 

• What issues did the expulsion create for Britain’s relationship with Uganda? 
• Does this source reveal anything further on this issue? 

T353/27 f.5 

This document shows a debate in the House of Commons about the Government’s handling of the Ugandan Asians expulsion on 6 December 1972. Criticism by Mr Arthur Lewis MP (West Ham, North).  Reference is made to the red areas- regions of high immigrant populations where the government was reluctant to allow Ugandan Asians to settle. 

• Look at this source together with Source 2a in the lesson which also includes comments made by Arthur Lewis. What further information does this provide on his views and ‘red areas’?  

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External links

• Website highlighting the experience of British Ugandan Asians in and after 1972, and the many volunteers who helped them. 

bua50 | BRITISH UGANDAN ASIANS AT 50.  It also discusses the Red/Green settlement areas: Prejudice | bua50 

• This website presents the stories of the generations of migrants who came to and shaped the British Isles. 20TH & 21ST Century Migrations / Our Migration Story 
• Website “From East to West” providing interviews, photographs, newspaper articles and education materials Interviews Archive – Ugandan Asians 
• 50 Stories from Ugandan Refugees 1972 Fleeing to the UK (affcaduk.org) (A Ugandan based charity holding a collection of oral histories 

• Ugandan Journeys: Insight into Heathfield Resettlement Camp in 1972/3. (Series 3, Part 1 of 12) – YouTube  

Heathfield Camp was situated in Honiton, Devon, where many Ugandan Asians were sent by the British Government. From here, many were resettled in different parts of the UK.  

• Watch a video from the British Film Institute showing Ugandan Asians at Houndstone Camp. 

Related outreach projects

Marking the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Ugandan Asians in Britain (2022) – The National Archives 

Ugandan Asians 40 years on (2012) – The National Archives 

Panjab 1947: A heart divided (2010) – The National Archives 

Partition (2017) – The National Archives 

Indian Indentured Labour (2021-2023) – The National Archives 

Related blog posts

Teaching young people about the Partition of British India: 75th anniversary – The National Archives blog 

A parting as of brothers: Bangladesh at 50 – The National Archives blog 

Refugee Week 2020: ‘We were the lucky few’ – The National Archives blog 

Remembering Partition: official records and community voices – The National Archives blog 

‘The Great Experiment’: Explaining the advent of indenture to the West Indies – The National Archives blog 

A ‘new system of slavery’? The British West Indies and the origins of Indian indenture – The National Archives blog 

Irish indentured labour in the Caribbean – The National Archives blog 

Connections to curriculum

Key stage 4 

AQA GCSE History: Britain: Migration, empires, and the people: c790 to the present day  

Edexcel GCSE History: Edexcel, Migrants in Britain c800-present  

OCR GCSE History: OCR, Migrants to Britain c1250 to present (Schools History Project) 

Key stage 5 

AQA GCE History: The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007:  Attitudes to immigration; racial violence 1951-1964 & Issues of immigration and race 1964-1970.  

Edexcel GCE History British Political History, 1945- 90: Consensus and Conflict  

Key stage 3 

Challenges for Britain, Europe, and the wider world 1901 to the present day: social, cultural, and technological change in post-war British society; Britain’s place in the world since 1945. 1964-1974 issues of immigration and race 

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