Tom Masaba, Bugsihu's execution 1973 (photo)

MBALE, UGANDA - FEBRUARY - A crowd of twenty-thousand Ugandans, including women and children, watched from a stadium in a pouring rain as Ugandan soldiers prepared for execution by firing squad two alleged guerrillas from Bugsihu, Tom Masaba pictured), a former captain in the Ugandan Army and Sebastino Namirundu, Mbale, February 1973. Masaba and Namirundu were interrogated, stripped naked, fitted with short white aprons and tied to their execution posts. Masaba, who was accused of being a terrorist, was reported to have said, "Let those, like me, who are killing innocent people in the country, come out and report to the authorities." Idi Amin Dada declared himself President of Uganda, February 2, 1971 one week after taking power in a coup from Ugandan President, Milton Obote, January 25, 1971. Under Amin's eight year reign of terror from 1971 to 1979, it is estimated that five-hundred thousand people were murdered in Uganda.