Janani Luwum: the archbishop who confronted Idi Amin

Radio Uganda said it was a car accident. On 16 February 1977, the government announced that Archbishop Janani Luwum and two government ministers had died when their vehicle crashed as they tried to overpower the driver. Mourners who saw his body said it bore bullet wounds. Witnesses later said the men had been taken to an army barracks, beaten and shot.

A shepherd boy

Luwum was born in the north of Uganda around 1922 and grew up herding cattle. He became a teacher, converted during the East African Revival, a movement of repentance and renewal that swept through Anglican churches in the region, and was later ordained. In 1974, Luwum became Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire. He took office under the rule of Idi Amin, who had seized power in 1971 and whose regime was killing thousands.

Speaking out and the trial

As killings and disappearances increased, Luwum and other bishops protested. In February 1977, the bishops sent a letter to Amin condemning the violence and the climate of fear. Days later, Luwum was accused of plotting against the government and of smuggling arms.

Luwum was paraded before soldiers and officials at a rally in Kampala, accused of treason. He was then taken away with two ministers, Erinayo Oryema and Charles Oboth Ofumbi. They never returned alive.

A martyr

The government’s story of a car crash was widely disbelieved. Later accounts, including from the Dictionary of African Christian Biography, say Luwum and the ministers were shot on Amin’s orders. Luwum was immediately honoured as a martyr. His death drew international condemnation of Amin’s regime. The Anglican Communion commemorates him, and Uganda marks Janani Luwum Day each February.

Luwum knew the risk of speaking. Friends had urged him to be careful. He continued, saying that church leaders could not stay silent while people were being killed.

Uganda under Amin

Idi Amin ruled Uganda from 1971 to 1979. His regime expelled Uganda’s Asian community in 1972 and was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands, possibly far more, of Ugandans. Many were killed by security agencies such as the State Research Bureau. Churches and mosques became among the few institutions able to speak publicly, and their leaders faced great danger. Amin was overthrown in 1979 by Tanzanian forces and Ugandan exiles and fled into exile, dying in Saudi Arabia in 2003.

Africa has produced many church leaders who supported rulers. Janani Luwum is remembered because he did the opposite, and paid for it with his life.