American looks for slain dad
Sep 06, 2006
An American lawyer is searching for the remains of his father, who was killed in Idi Amin’s regime a few months after the 1971 coup.<br>Prof. Robert Louis Siedle, who was a Makerere University sociology lecturer, was killed along with an American journalist, Nicolas Stroh, by soldiers of Simba Ba
By Anne Mugisa
An American lawyer is searching for the remains of his father, who was killed in Idi Amin’s regime a few months after the 1971 coup.
Prof. Robert Louis Siedle, who was a Makerere University sociology lecturer, was killed along with an American journalist, Nicolas Stroh, by soldiers of Simba Batallion, Mbarara, now known as Makenke Barracks.
The two Americans had gone to Mbarara to investigate reports of massacres of hundreds of soldiers in June 1971.
Edward Siedle, who was 17 then, has staked a $2,000 reward to whoever helps him recover his father’s remains. He has also appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to help in his search.
“I am writing to you to ask for your assistance in locating my father’s remains,†Siedle stated. “I am prepared to travel back to Uganda once again to resume the search.
However, I believe such a journey would be both frustrating and dangerous without the assistance of your government. With your assistance, I am confident we can bring this tragic incident to a fitting conclusion,†he said.
Siedle said he was in Uganda in 1997 and was shown a spot where the remains could be by a former Uganda Army soldier, Silver Tibihika, but the search was unsuccessful.
Siedle said Amin set up a commission of inquiry into the disappearance of the Americans following a diplomatic row, but he frustrated it.
Justice David Jeffrey Jones fled before his probe findings could be handed over to Amin.
Prof. Siedle and Stroh’s car was found in a deep ravine in Mbarara.
According to Siedle, a soldier who had fled to Tanzania, wrote to the Jones Commission detailing the murder and that he had been ordered to destroy the bodies and the car.
The commission, according to Siedle, had found out that Amin had been in Mbarara and had personally ordered the killing of the Americans.
Siedle said he talked to the then Simba Battalion commander, Ali Fadhul, who was in Luzira Maximum Security prison in 1997, but he was evasive.
An American lawyer is searching for the remains of his father, who was killed in Idi Amin’s regime a few months after the 1971 coup.
Prof. Robert Louis Siedle, who was a Makerere University sociology lecturer, was killed along with an American journalist, Nicolas Stroh, by soldiers of Simba Batallion, Mbarara, now known as Makenke Barracks.
The two Americans had gone to Mbarara to investigate reports of massacres of hundreds of soldiers in June 1971.
Edward Siedle, who was 17 then, has staked a $2,000 reward to whoever helps him recover his father’s remains. He has also appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to help in his search.
“I am writing to you to ask for your assistance in locating my father’s remains,†Siedle stated. “I am prepared to travel back to Uganda once again to resume the search.
However, I believe such a journey would be both frustrating and dangerous without the assistance of your government. With your assistance, I am confident we can bring this tragic incident to a fitting conclusion,†he said.
Siedle said he was in Uganda in 1997 and was shown a spot where the remains could be by a former Uganda Army soldier, Silver Tibihika, but the search was unsuccessful.
Siedle said Amin set up a commission of inquiry into the disappearance of the Americans following a diplomatic row, but he frustrated it.
Justice David Jeffrey Jones fled before his probe findings could be handed over to Amin.
Prof. Siedle and Stroh’s car was found in a deep ravine in Mbarara.
According to Siedle, a soldier who had fled to Tanzania, wrote to the Jones Commission detailing the murder and that he had been ordered to destroy the bodies and the car.
The commission, according to Siedle, had found out that Amin had been in Mbarara and had personally ordered the killing of the Americans.
Siedle said he talked to the then Simba Battalion commander, Ali Fadhul, who was in Luzira Maximum Security prison in 1997, but he was evasive.