90 Minutes at Entebbe

by William Stevenson

  Bar-Lev: Your Excellency, I’m doing everything I can to come to see you. Perhaps I can be useful to you . . . when I heard the news on the radio, I said: Now my friend Idi Amin Dada has a great opportunity, a chance to do something really great. Everyone will talk about him. Please, stop the bloodshed. I’ll try to come and find another solution.

  Amin: But they’ve moved 145 Jews together, and they said they will surround them with high explosives, so there must be an immediate answer.

  Bar-Lev: I’m only a private individual . . . Remember, I always gave you good advice and never gave you bad advice. It’s your country and you’re the president and you have the power. If something happens you’ll be blamed. And if you save them, you’ll be a holy man. What is the situation, Your Excellency?

  Amin: They have refused. They have surrounded them and they say they can blow up all the hostages and the Ugandan army around them.

  Bar-Lev: I understand. I don’t think they have that much explosive. How could they come by plane with so much explosive? Your Excellency, I want you to understand that they want to free murderers, who committed many murders. They killed women and children. I don’t believe that if someone tried to kill you, you would allow him to go. It’s not easy to persuade people here to release murderers. You must understand. I am speaking to you as a soldier. You would never give up and free a murderer. It’s not an easy thing to do. I am certain that you, as president of a state, won’t let anyone else decide what to do in your country.

  Amin: I absolutely agree with what you say. But the situation is very complicated now, because these people brought complete charges of TNT even on their bodies, and it’s very complicated.

  Bar-Lev: Sir, it will take me another day or two till I can reach you and be of help to you. Can you keep them quiet for a couple of days?

  Amin: They refused and said that the deadline is tomorrow noon. They won’t wait for me, they said they will commit suicide with the hostages. They’ve already prepared everything to press the button, to blow up everything with themselves.

  Bar-Lev: Where are the people, in the hotel or the plane? Where are they sleeping?

  Amin: In the old terminal of Entebbe, we built a modem terminal . . . The old one is just a building, and that’s where they’re holding all the hostages. There’s no plane there. They asked us to remove all the planes. All air force personnel are now out of Entebbe . . . They’ve put high explosives around everything . . . Two lines of high explosives, outside and inside. They came with high explosives in the plane, in boxes. I think that certain people, perhaps in Athens, received something not to check the boxes . . .

  Bar-Lev: Where is the French plane?

  Amin: Close to me. They have some people in it with high explosives, and they’re prepared to blow it up . . . If you can persuade your government to release those people, the ones you call criminals . . . It’s better to save the lives of 200 people . . . They said they are going to kill them all. They’ll start by blowing up the plane, then they’ll kill everybody with high explosives. They said that if any plane comes to Uganda, they’ll automatically blow up everything. They want to negotiate through France. I told them that I have some friends in Israel, like you, General Dayan, even the prime minister, that I can negotiate with them, but they said they want only the French government.

  Bar-Lev: Remember, sir, you have a great opportunity, given to you by God.

  Amin: Tell your government they must put pressure on the Kenyan government to release the prisoners they caught. Otherwise something terrible will happen to Kenya. The leader of the Palestinians told me that if I can get in touch with you, I must tell you about Kenya . . . If not, Kenya will be terribly punished.

  Bar-Lev: Good, sir. I’ll do the best I can, but I’m a private person. I saw a great opportunity for you to go down in history as a great man, a holy man . . . I’ll try to do what you asked.

  Amin: Tell your government, I’d like to see you in a very important position.

  Bar-Lev: Thank you very much and good night, sir.

  Thursday, July 1, after 10:00 a.m. (shortly before expiration of ultimatum)

  Amin: Inform your government officially that the PFLP will make an announcement at 11:00 a.m. [2:00 p.m. East Africa time], that’s the only answer I can give you. Those are the instructions I received from the front. OK? We had very difficult talks till now. It’s best that you wait for the announcement.

  Bar-Lev: Can you tell what’s happening? What are the main points?

  Amin: You know that what I’m saying isn’t secret, because my voice is recorded on the Voice of America.

  Bar-Lev: Can you prevent them from doing anything before I arrive? I’m coming with some very interesting proposals.

  Amino: Call me after you hear the announcement.

  Bar-Lev: Sir, how did it happen that additional PFLP people reached Uganda? There were only 6 in the plane, and now there are more than 6 . . . 20 or more . . . How did they enter?

  Amin: They were in the plane. There weren’t only 6, there were about 30 from all over the world. Nobody came by another plane to Uganda. For your information, I tried to put the hostages in a bus and to drive them in a different direction, but the hijackers wanted all of them to be brought to the old air terminal. It’s very difficult for me, I did the best I could, but I think that your government is responsible for the fate of the Israelis and the passengers with dual nationality, and the rest of the hostages.

  Bar-Lev: My government is trying to help by sending me to you with some new ideas . . . Once again I say to you, you have an opportunity given you by God to do a great deed that will go down in history . . . Don’t be influenced by these PFLP people just because they are sitting next to you and telling you all kinds of stories . . .

  Amin: I’m not influenced by the PFLP. I make my own decisions, and I am doing everything I can to save the lives of the Israelis and the other passengers. So what you said about wanting to come to Uganda, it isn’t necessary that you should come. If you have something extremely important to tell me, listen to the announcement, phone me, and I’ll tell you what to do. I want to tell you again that had I not done everything I could, all the hostages including the crew wouldn’t be alive now . . . You must consider my position, you mustn’t insult me as you just did when you said that I am collaborating with the hijackers, who are not innocent people. But my position is extremely difficult and you must realize it. The whole world must realize it.

  Bar-Lev: I know three things about you: that you are a great soldier, a Ugandan, and a man who trusts only in God, so I think that you can prevent a massacre and bloodshed. Nobody can give you instructions. You can do what is good for the people of your country and as commanded by God. The people from the PFLP have no right to do this within the territory of your country.

  Amin: They surrounded the hostages with high explosives and they moved my soldiers away. The lives of the hostages are in their hands. What can I do now?

  Bar-Lev: You can tell them that they are your guests and that they are placing your country in a difficult position . . . If such a thing were to happen in Israel, and it did happen, we managed to free hostages. The front has never succeeded in doing what they want in Israel, even when they had high explosives, because we didn’t permit them to. The world will never accept the claim that you and your great army couldn’t overpower 6 to 10 people. How will the world believe that the PFLP can do what it likes in Uganda, and the entire Ugandan army cannot overpower them?

  Amin: I know that you are saying that they never succeeded in your country and that I can kill the terrorists.

  Bar-Lev: You are granting them protection. They are living in Uganda as if they were in a hotel. You are a good friend of the Palestinians and the Arabs, so they shouldn’t place you in a difficult situation and harm you. They mustn’t say and think that they are operating in Uganda and they don’t care what happens in Uganda. They must consider your problem, not just you consider theirs. You are a good friend of th
eirs and they must think about you too. I think that they won’t do anything if Field Marshal General Idi Amin asks them to do nothing and delay operations for a day until I can arrive.

  Amin: I want to tell you that they are not living like guests in a hotel. They are together with the hostages and if we take any action we are endangering the lives of the hostages, they even [?] together. They are not my guests. I agree that I am their good friend. I want peace in Palestine. It is the responsibility of your government. You must not continue with this Zionist policy and activity.

  Sunday, July 4, 1:00 a.m. (after Israeli army raid. Amin did not yet know about the raid)

  Bar-Lev: Sir, I want to thank you for your cooperation and I thank you very much.

  Amin: You know I did not succeed.

  Bar-Lev: Thank you very much for your cooperation. What? The cooperation didn’t succeed? Why?

  Amin: Have I done anything at all?

  Bar-Lev: I just want to thank you, sir, for the cooperation.

  Amin: Have I done anything?

  Bar-Lev: I did exactly what you wanted.

  Amin: Wh—— Wh—— What happened?

  Bar-Lev: What happened?

  Amin: Yes?

  Bar-Lev: I don’t know.

  Amin: Can’t you tell me?

  Bar-Lev: No. I don’t know. I have been requested to thank you for your cooperation.

  Amin: Can you tell me about the suggestion you mentioned?

  Bar-Lev: I have been requested by a friend with good connections in the government to thank you for the cooperation. I don’t know what was meant by it, but I think you do know.

  Amin: I don’t know because I’ve only now returned hurriedly from Mauritius.

  Bar-Lev: Ah . . .

  Amin: . . . In order to solve the problem before the ultimatum expires tomorrow morning.

  Bar-Lev: I understand very well, sir . . . Thank you for the cooperation. Perhaps I’ll call you again tomorrow morning. Do you want me to call you again tomorrow morning?

  Amin: Yes.

  Bar-Lev: Very well, thank you sir. Goodbye.