The World Has Changed So Much, Yet So Little, Since The 1972 Ugandan Refugee Crisis

Dr Nik Kotecha OBE DL, Chairman - Morningside Pharmaceuticals & The Randal Charitable Foundation
 
One hopes that the mistakes of the past are learned from and our history’s darkest moments are never repeated again.
Sadly, the War in Ukraine and recent conflicts in the Middle East and East Africa have once more led to millions of people becoming displaced and refugees, through no fault of their own.
As a child refugee myself during the 1972 Reign of Terror of then Dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin; I can still vividly remember the panic in my parents’ eyes as the country’s Asian minority were given just 90 days to flee, or suffer the most terrible of consequences.
As we mark the 50th anniversary of the Expulsion of the Ugandan Asians, I can’t help but see parallels with the dreadful scenes of Ukrainian families clutching but a handful of belongings as they escape their homeland, but at a terrible cost. My family found themselves in a similar situation, having fled Uganda for the Un...