God at Entebbe Raid.
The day was Monday 5th July 1976 and I was only 14 years old. Early morning, I was dressing up to go to Lubiri Secondary School in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, when my older brother told me not to. He instructed me to stay at home.
“Why?” I asked him.
“We are receiving reports that Amin’s military tanks are patrolling all the roads” responded my brother.
“Might you be knowing why?” I continued asking.
“We hear the Israelis came to Entebbe last night and took their people.
No one could invade Amin.
At that time, I and many young people in Uganda naively thought that Idi Amin was the strongest President in the whole world. Ugandan TV was always broadcasting his mighty army parades, his military exercises, live coverage of firing squads, and his verbal threats to other leaders of the world. We thought that all other presidents in the world were very weak.
Amin’s MIG Jet fighter maneuvers.
Before coming to Kampala in January 1976 for my secondary school education, I lived in a rural area about 100 kilometers away where Amin’s air force practiced their MIG 21 jet fighters.
I do not know who was training Amin’s pilots but those trainers were real experts. Usually instead of concentrating on our crops cultivation, I spent hours looking at the skies being fascinated by the maneuvers made by these pilots.
I remember one time Amin’s MIG 21 jet fighter was very high up in the sky when it rolled its wings about four times and I ran away hiding in our house thinking it was going to crash on me from the skies. I also shouted at my grandmother to run and hide, lest the fighter plane falls on her. I was baffled when the pilot regained normal position and flew back to Entebbe air force base at a supersonic speed leaving thunderous noise above our village. .
Another time the pilot was at very high altitude when he suddenly dived towards our house. Again I shouted to my grandmother to hide lest the jet falls on her. To my surprise, the pilot maneuvered and the jet fighter suddenly turned upwards at 180 degrees, re-gained high altitude at a supersonic speed, before returning to the Entebbe Air Base. In my naivety, I believed that no one could ever make the mistake of invading Idi Amin. All other countries were powerless. I concluded that only God could dare.
Then, I remembered something.
As I followed my brother’s advice on that morning of 5th July 1976, and I removed my school uniform for the casual home wear, I remembered something in the Bible.
In the Book of 1 Samuel chapter 26, King Saul went to attack David in the desert of Ziph with an army of 3,000 (about five battalions) select, well trained combatants.
He camped at a hill called Hachilah where he slept being surrounded by Abner together with other top military officers. Amazingly God made all Saul’s commanders and army sleep. Because God was on David’s side, he was able to go deep unnoticed into the enemy camp up to the spot where Saul was sleeping! This was not human ability, but God.
God was with the Israelites at Entebbe.
Just as God enabled David to penetrate Saul’s army camp unnoticed, I believe God was at Entebbe with the Israelite’s for the following reasons.
First, on that night God took away Amin from Uganda. Instead of staying home where an international crisis was taking place, Amin preferred to attend the Organization of African Union (OAU) in Mauritius.
Secondly, just a day before the Israeli invasion of Entebbe, a senior Ugandan diplomat in Nairobi was tipped of the impeding attack. He promptly alerted the then acting President who never took any action. On the night of 4th July 1976 God took Uganda’s acting President to bed early!
Thirdly, Amin underestimated the magnitude of the hostage crisis and for this reason, no military reinforcements were sent to Entebbe when the crisis began.
Fourth, no one in Uganda, including the military, politicians, and all intelligence could believe that such an attack from a country very far away could happen. Technicians at the only radar at Entebbe thought they were dreaming when they saw the first Israeli Hercules plane land on the tarmac. When they opened their eyes widely, they realized they were not dreaming. This was a real Isaraeli Defence Force Hercules! “How come we did not see it on our radar?” they asked themselves.
Fifth, God blinded Amin and his air force when they decided to always park their MIG21 jet fighters in a vulnerable open space at Entebbe Airport.
Sixth, this was a surprise attack. It was like an ambush. Very few combatants in the world can survive a well-planned ambush.
This is why I believe God was at the Entebbe Raid with the Israelis.
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