Jaffar Amin to reconcile with victims of Amin rule
Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Israeli raid on Entebbe, Jaffar Amin has spoken out on his strategy to reconcile with victims of his father's tyrannical reign in the 1970s.
The third son of the former president Idi Amin said on Tuesday that after years of research and consultations about his father's troubled eight-year rule in Uganda, he is reaching out to communities where atrocities were allegedly committed.
"I have taken it upon myself to own up my name. I wish people will understand the need to forgive each other," Amin told journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala.
On July 4, 1976, Israeli forces unleashed Operation Thunderbolt on Entebbe airport to rescue about 97 Israeli passengers and an Air France crew. These had been taken hostage after their flight was hijacked by Palestinian militants and sheltered by the Idi Amin government.
On Tuesday, at the invitation of the Uganda Tourism Board, some of the Israeli soldiers who participated in the raid flew into Entebbe. Including Amir Ofer, Ilan Blumer, Eyua Oren and Alex David, the group visited the old airport terminal where the raid took place, and filmed some scenes they recreated.
Boniface Byamukama, the president of Uganda Tourism Association who represented UTB, said this was one of those ways the board is using to attract tourists from different parts of the world.
"The main objective of this visit is to promote Uganda's tourism potential in Israel," said Byamukama, announcing plans to make a movie about the raid.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected into the country early July to wrap up the commemoration ceremonies.
Jaffar Amin said he would visit Israel to reconcile the families of the soldiers and hostages killed during the raid. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost his brother Yonatan, who commanded the operation.
This is not the first time Jaffar Amin is talking reconciliation. After the 2007 release of the award winning film, The Last King of Scotland, Jaffar announced he was writing a book to set his father's record straight.
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