A Fighting Man

Whilst much ink has been spilt on "Museveni's Uganda", far too little ink has been spilt on the life of the country's eponymous leader, which is now in its eighth, eventful decade. The little information on Museveni's life that is in the public domain comes mostly from his memoirs, in which he is, in any case, understandably much more engaged in personal justification than an objective and disinterested essay. Hence this volume. This is the first, full, political biography of Museveni. This book also presents that increasingly uncommon commodity in "Museveni's Uganda": a balanced assessment of Museveni's abilities and activities.

This volume of Xavier Ogena's political biography of President Museveni takes the reader from the birth of its subject in c.1944-through his formal education in Uganda and Tanzania, where he became considerably politically radicalised; his brief employment in a curious capacity in the Obote (First) President's Office; his dogged guerrilla struggle against the Amin military dictatorship; his changing fortunes in the post-Amin, transitional dispensation; his studied reluctance in running, if unsuccessfully, for the Presidency in the rigged general elections of December 1980; and his rebellion against the Obote (Second) and Okello regimes-to his triumphant accession to power in the dry season of 1985-86. This book is an essential reading for anyone who is interested in the history and politics of post-colonial Uganda, even Africa.