On October 30, 1978, Amin, then President of Uganda, suddenly declared war on Tanzania, and the Kageira district of Tanzania fell quickly. For a time, the Kagueira district was completely reduced to hell on earth. Ugandan soldiers raped women everywhere, and in just a few days, nearly 1/5 of the innocent people in the Karagai region were slaughtered.
After being refused a request for help from the Organization of African Unity, Nyerere, then President of Tanzania, decided to fight back with force. In less than a month, Ugandan troops were completely expelled from Tanzania. In order to completely overthrow Amin's dictatorship in Uganda, Tanzania decided to take advantage of the victory.
Nyerere
In late March 1979, when the city of Kampala, the capital of Uganda, was conquered by the Tanzanian army, Amin had already fled, and the city of Kampala was filled with smoke, and at this time, 23 Chinese diplomats in uganda had not yet had time to evacuate.
As the fighting gradually dissipated, the city of Kampala gradually returned to quiet, and just as our diplomats were preparing to breathe a sigh of relief, a personnel carrier full of heavily armed soldiers suddenly stopped in front of the Chinese Embassy.
Just as our diplomats were trying to negotiate with each other, they suddenly heard some of the black soldiers shouting in Mandarin: "Don't be afraid, Chinese comrades, we are the Tanzania People's Defense Force, and we are responsible for protecting your safety!" ”
It was also under the protection of this group of Tanzanian soldiers that our embassy suffered no losses, and our diplomats were even more safe. A month later, the Utan War ended completely. In less than four months, the Tanzania People's Defence Forces not only defeated attacks in Uganda and Libya, but also overthrew the Amin regime in Uganda.
Utan War
Shortly after the end of the Utan War, the African countries formulated new rules of war after many consultations, and one of the prohibitions was repeatedly emphasized: No country could invite Chinese advisers to participate in all future wars in Africa.
Why does the Tanzanian military provide special protection to the Chinese embassy? What kind of assistance did China provide to Tanzania during the Utan War? After the Utan War, why did African countries formulate rules that "prohibit the participation of Chinese advisers"?
On October 25, 1971, the United Nations General Assembly was undergoing a very meaningful vote, with the announcement of the results of the vote count, the People's Republic of China officially restored its legitimate seat in the United Nations, when hearing this result, the then Foreign Minister Qiao Guanhua laughed loudly, and at this moment, a black African suddenly jumped up from his position excitedly, waved his hands and cheered: "I am very happy, long live China..." And this black man was Salim, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania, the reason why he was so excited, Let's start with the close relationship between China and Tanzania.
Salim
Tanzania was founded in 1964, 15 years after the founding of New China. Suffering from nearly a hundred years of imperialist oppression, the newly established Tanzania can be said to be poor and white, not only is agricultural production extremely backward, but also does not have any ability to engage in industrial production, fortunately, Tanzania has met an idealistic and ambitious president - Nyerere.
Although Nyerere was born in Africa, but he has received a relatively advanced education in Uganda and Scotland, since he became the president of Tanzania, he has been looking for ways to lift the country out of poverty, he not only wisely chose to take the socialist road, but also led the Tanzanian people to create a precedent for the nationalization of industry, mining and agriculture.
At that time, New China not only faced military threats, political isolation, and economic blockade from Western countries led by the United States, but also had just experienced a break with the Soviet Union. For a time, the international situation in our country was very unoptimistic. In order to reopen the diplomatic situation and to get rid of the threat of the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union, our leaders wisely put forward the instruction of "mingling with the brothers of Asia, Africa and Latin America." Thanks to the efforts of Premier Zhou, the door of China-Africa friendship has been smoothly opened, and a large number of African countries have established diplomatic relations with China, including the newly established Tanzania.
However, what really makes China and Tanzania intimate is actually a railway that is 1860.5 kilometers long. As neighbors, the situation in Zambia and Tanzania is very similar, both countries have been oppressed by imperialism and both achieved independence in 1964, but unlike Tanzania, Zambia has a large amount of copper resources and is known as the largest copper producer in Africa.
Tanzan Railway
Although copper resources are abundant, Zambia faces a huge problem, in order to achieve economic independence, Zambia must sell copper resources through the sea, but Zambia is a landlocked country. In order to break the trade restrictions, Zambia decided to build a railway to Tanzania's outlet to the sea, which is a two-pronged thing that Tanzania naturally approves.
Although Zambia and Tanzania agreed on the construction of a railway, to complete such a large project, it was necessary to have enough economic strength to support it, and both countries were still hovering near the subsistence line and could not come up with the funds to build the railway. In order to solve the problem, the two countries jointly applied to the World Bank for assistance, but they were refused, and then the vice president of Tanzania, Kavava, made a request to the Soviet Union, but it was rejected.
When there was nothing to do, Tanzania made a request to China, when China's economic situation was not optimistic, after preliminary calculations, the construction of the Tanzan Railway needed at least 700 million yuan, but even in such a difficult situation, Premier Zhou still said very firmly: "Aiding the construction of the Tanzan Railway is a very correct decision." ”
Premier Zhou
In order to ensure the opening of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway as soon as possible, in addition to providing financial support, China also sent a large number of workers to Tanzania to participate in the construction of the railway, and it is also in the process of railway construction that the exchanges between China and Tanzania have become closer and closer, and the relations have become more and more friendly.
On June 18, 1968, when Nyerere, then President of Tanzania, visited China for the second time, after witnessing the disciplined PLA troops in our country, Nyerere finally plucked up the courage to say a request he had been thinking about for a long time: "I hope that China can send excellent military personnel to help Tanzania train its army." "Despite our surprise, our country finally acceded to Nyerere's request. However, when they saw the Tanzanian Defence Forces, our military instructors were astonished.
Originally, I thought that as tanzania's elite People's Defence Force, the weapons and equipment might be worse, but the military quality of the soldiers should not be too much of a problem. However, when our instructors arrived in the Tanzanian army, they were frightened by the situation in their army.
East African Liberation Army
As blacks, the Tanzanian soldiers were very physically strong, and everyone's body was exceptionally strong, but the whole army did not have any organizational discipline, and even the most basic assembly and walking together could not be completed. What is even more incredible is that the number of weapons in the Tanzanian troops is pitifully small, and most of the weapons are locked in the cabinet, and they are not willing to use them at all during normal training, which leads to many soldiers in the Tanzanian troops not even using guns.
It is also after understanding the details of the Tanzanian troops that our country has thoroughly understood Nyerere's foresight, after all, such a force, once on the battlefield, it is in vain. In order to give the Tanzanian troops a new look, our instructors immediately formulated a training program in the light of the actual situation, the first task of which was to improve the discipline of the troops.
While conveying the importance of discipline to the Tanzanian troops, our instructors began to teach them to kick right, but soon the problems of the black soldiers were exposed. In order to take care of Tanzanian soldiers, our officers have also specially slowed down the teaching speed, but black soldiers are still full of mistakes, in addition, in the training process, many black soldiers are still very dissatisfied, and even openly disobey the training orders of our officers.
In order to convince the "thorn heads" in the Tanzanian troops with practical actions, our officers will also participate in the training, and the training is far more difficult than that of tanzanian soldiers. After a period of running-in, the Tanzanian soldiers admired the instructors from our country more and more, and since then, this group of black soldiers has worked harder and harder in training, and no one has complained, and Nyereel is both excited and grateful after seeing this scene.
At the same time as the physical training, our instructors will continue to teach some advanced combat experience to the officers and men in Tanzania, and will also share the classic tactics that were most commonly used in the world at that time. After just a few months of training, the Tanzania National Defense Force, which was originally poorly disciplined and not worth mentioning, has gradually taken on the appearance of a regular unit, not only has military discipline become more and more stringent, but also its combat capability has been greatly improved.
It is worth mentioning that on the training ground, Tanzanian soldiers can often be heard shouting Chinese slogans, and they also have a strong Hebei accent, because the instructors sent by our country are all from the Shijiazhuang Army Academy in Hebei Province.
Shijiazhuang Army Academy, Hebei
In addition to our instructors going to Tanzania to guide training, many officers in Tanzania were later sent to our military academies for training, which led to the Tanzania People's Defence Forces from training exercises to internal affairs to combat styles, which has a lot of similarities with our People's Liberation Army, which is also the fundamental reason why they are called the "East African Liberation Army".
In addition to assistance in military training, my country has sold a large quantity of weapons and equipment to Tanzania at a low price. For a time, the strength of the Tanzanian National Defence Force was rapid and strong, but under the subtlety of our People's Liberation Army, the strong Tanzanian army did not have ambitions to expand, but just when the Tanzanian army wholeheartedly defended national security, an opponent who did not measure up to his own strength appeared...
In 1971, during a visit to Singapore by then-President Obot, Amin staged a coup d'état at home. In desperation, Obote had to go to Tanzania for support, and it was because of this that Tanzania was hated by Amin. Finally, on October 30, 1978, Amin suddenly declared war on Tanzania, but as everyone knows, Amin's move was actually digging his own grave.
Amin
The sudden start of war in Uganda caught Tanzania a bit off guard, and before it could launch a counterattack, Ugandan forces occupied the Kaghera district of Tanzania and burned and looted the area.
Under the influence of China, Tanzania has also always pursued the diplomatic principle of peaceful coexistence. At the beginning of the war, Nyerere had asked the Organization of African Unity for help, hoping that the other side could mediate from it, but the Organization of African Unity adopted an attitude of "non-interference and non-expression", and in desperation, Tanzania had to start counterattacking by force.
In the Utan War, Chinese advisers not only put forward a large number of constructive operational proposals to the Tanzanian army, but also China secretly assisted several Type 59 tanks and many J-6 and J-7 fighters in Tanzania.
In the face of Uganda's aggression, the Tanzanian military and civilians have long been furious. Under Nyerere's military mobilization, the number of Tanzanian troops had grown from more than 40,000 to 100,000 in less than a month. Under the counterattack of the Tanzanian army, the Ugandan army quickly lost its ability to fight, and by the end of March 1979, the Ugandan capital Kampala had been completely conquered by the Tanzanian army.
Just as the Amin regime was on the verge of collapse, another overestimated opponent appeared, Libya sent 2,500 fighters to the battlefield, and supported the Ugandan troops with a large amount of heavy weapons, but even so, it could not change uganda's defeat, and even the self-righteous Libyan army became a defeated general of the Tanzania Defense Forces.
After the Utan War, the Tanzanian troops completely played a role in Africa, and their name of "East African Liberation Army" became louder and louder. To this end, the African countries soon formed an unwritten rule of war: in the future, no matter which two African countries clashed, they could not invite Chinese advisers to participate.
Chinese military adviser and East African Liberation Army
No country can understand the humiliation of being oppressed and invaded better than China, and no nation knows better than the Chinese nation the truth that "backwardness means being beaten." Since the founding of New China, we have been doing our best to develop our comprehensive strength, and after 72 years of hard work, the Chinese nation has finally ushered in the light of Ten Thousand Paths. As long as there is aggression and hegemony anywhere in the world, China is destined to spare no effort to maintain world peace.