The announcement came in a rambling speech. Amin accused the Asian community, predominantly of Indian and Pakistani descent, of sabotaging Uganda's economy. He gave them 90 days to depart. The order applied even to citizens, though a later court ruling temporarily exempted them. The reality was a state-sanctioned theft. Asians could only leave with £50 and the clothes they could carry. Their homes, businesses, cars, and bank accounts were confiscated by the army and allocated to Amin's supporters. The streets of Kampala and Jinja became scenes of chaotic looting under military supervision.
The expulsion mattered because it dismantled the country's commercial backbone in the name of 'economic war.' Asians controlled a large portion of Uganda's manufacturing, trade, and professional sectors. Their removal caused immediate shortages, inflation, and a collapse in tax revenue. For the expelled, it meant the loss of generations of work and the trauma of becoming stateless. Most held British passports, and approximately 27,000 fled to the United Kingdom. Others went to Canada, India, Kenya, and the United States.
This was not a spontaneous outburst of xenophobia. It was a calculated political maneuver. Amin, a year into his rule, used the Asians as a scapegoat to consolidate support among the African population and reward his Kakwa ethnic base and military allies with stolen property. The move also deflected attention from his regime's violence and economic mismanagement.
The lasting impact was a demographic and economic hollowing out. Uganda's middle class was eviscerated overnight. The businesses and farms handed to loyalists often failed through incompetence or neglect. The country's GDP plummeted. For decades, Uganda struggled to regain its former level of internal commerce and industrial output. The event remains a case study in the self-inflicted wound of ethnic cleansing for short-term political gain.