The most amazing man I've never met. Exchanged honourable stories with strangers along the way. Such long roads, so many tribes, so many beliefs, so many needs, so many deeds, for so many!
A tribute to the late great honourable Bwana Hans Poppe.
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Uganda Times, Thursday, May 24, 1979
Picture caption reads: The remains of the late H. Poppe being taken into the plane at Entebbe Airport.
Poppe's remains flown to Tanzania
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Otema Allimadi yesterday handed over the remains of Tanzanian Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police, the late Hans Poppe was killed by Idi Amin's soldiers in 1971.
The remains of the late Hans Poppe, who was in charge of West Lake Region were handed to the Tanzanian Foreign Minister Ndugu Mkapa.
The ceremony which took place at the old Entebbe Airport was witnessed by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Dr. Lutakome Kayira, the Inspector General of Police Mr. David Burlow and several officers from Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces.
Mr. Otema Allimadi conveyed the government, UNLF, and the People of Unganda's deepest condolences of the bereaved family, the government and the people of Tanzania.
He paid tribute to the late Hans Poppe who died while defending the co-existence and cooporation between the peoples of the two countries.
Mr. Otema Allimadi later laid a wreath on the coffin of the deceased.
The Tanzania Minister Ndugu Mkapa remarked that the late Hans Poppe for a heroic cause while fighting the government of fascist Idi Amin which was characterised by plunder, murder and aggression.
Referring to Idi Amin's invasion of Tanzania in October of 1978, Ndugu Mkapa said the people of Tanzania and Uganda have won a war which Idi Amin waged to divide the people of two sister countries.
The Tanzanian Minister also called for further strengthening of cooperation between the two sister countries.
He paid tribute to the staff and doctors of Mulago Hospital for their efforts in recovering the remains of the late Hans Poppe.
A Uganda Senior Assitant Commisioner of Police Mr. Okoth Ogola led a six man Uganda deligation to Tanzania to attend the burial of the late Poppe in Iringa.
The son of the late H. Poppe who was killed at Mutukula in 1971 shakes hands with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Otema Allimadi, at Entebbe Airport before Poppe's remains were flown to Tanzania.
Poppe Killed after a year's captivity
Caption: The coffin containing the body of the late Hans Poppe being lowered into the grave at the Makanyigio Cemetary in Iringa town on Friday afternoon.
Published May 27, 1979
By Charles Kizigha
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Hans Poppe was murdered between September 19 and 21 in 1972, aged fifty-four, and not on August 24, 1971, as it has always been reported. The exact time and date of the death of the former West Lake Regional Police Commander is best known to fugitive dictator Idi Amin and his henchmen.
However, there is irrefutable evidence that the late Poppe, who was captured by Amin's troops on August 24, 1971, at Mutukula, was kept alive for about thirteen months.
He was shot in the right thigh at eleven in the morning on that fateful day during an attempt to reach a radio receiver to warn of Amin's invasion of Tanzania after he had seen two Amin tanks rambling into the country.
He dropped down after he was shot. His driver who went round the Land Rover to rescue him was also shot in the leg. Another bullet was lodged in the driver's shoulder as he attempted to pick up a gun.
Amin soldiers who then approached the two victims appeared more interested in Hans Poppe.
"Do not kill me please. Do not kill me," Poppe appealed to his captors. The plea was heard by people close to the scene, including Ndugu Abdallah Kabongo, now the Iringa Regional Party Secretary.
"After the incident we thought Hans Poppe was dead", Ndugu Kabongo told thousands of grief-stricken mourners at the funeral ceremony of the fallen hero in Iringa on Friday.
The Regional Party Secretary added that the then Colonel G. B. Kusiga was one of the people who witnessed the scene and heard Poppe asking for mercy.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday News in Iringa on Friday, a three-man Ugandan medical team from Mulago Hospital that attended the funeral disclosed how the body of Hans Poppe was treated and preserved at the hospital.
The team included Professor S.E.G. Tumwine of the Makerere University who is attached to the Mulago Hospital's Anatomy Department; the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. James Makumbi; and a technician with the Anatomy Department, Ndugu Cyprian Nkemero.
It was unfortunate that the Chief Technician of the Anatomy Department Ndugu Benedict Kisutu, did not make it to Iringa due to unavoidable circumstance.
Professor Tumwine told me: "Poppe's body was brought to us on the morning of September 21, 1972, by Amin's soldiers. They told us to keep the body. And within minutes very tight security was mounted round the Medical School where the Anatomy Department.
"We dispensed with the normal procedure regarding such cases. We did not ask whose body it was, nor where it came from. We carried the body into the Department".
"But judging from the tattered uniform and the pips we realized the body was that of a high ranking Tanzanian police officer."
"Upon observation we found that the body, covered with deep stab wounds all over and bullet holes on the upper part of the left arm and another on the pelvic girdle, was very fresh".
"We established, by the freshness of the body, that Poppe must've died within 24 to 48 hours from the time the body was brought to us".
Arguing that Poppe did not die on August 24, 1971 the Professor said that the body had not been embalmed before it was sent to Mulago.
He explained: "We did not find any trace of embalming". Further more, excepting Mulago Hospital, there's no place in the whole of Uganda where bodies can be embalmed.
"This man (Poppe) was kept alive somewhere and killed on the dates we mentioned earlier", he said.
It appears that Poppe, the only son of late Hoppmann Poppe, underwent hell during the thirteen months he was kept captive. Apart from the deep wounds and bullet holes, the body had hundreds of bruises, the latter suggesting torture.
The Professor went on, "However, we decided it was to preserve the body for the longest time possible and not just for a few days so that it decomposed later".
"On our own, we decided to embalm the body well believing that one day during our lifetime or after the relatives, friends, and Tanzanian's might trace the body and find well preserved".
"It was a very difficult and long process to embalm Poppe's body because of the cuts and bruises. For embalming involves the administering of chemicals to the body through the arteries until it becomes saturated".
"Because of the cuts, the chemicals were oozing out of the body as they were being administered by pressure". Never the less, we managed to embalm it so that it could survive more than thirty years irrespective of the condition when received", Professor Tumwine explained.
He said Amin's guards went to the Medical School to collect the body a few days after it had been embalmed on the dictator's orders.
The body was taken to Kulolo Airstrip where it was displayed, after which it was returned to the Anatomy Department.
In 1974 Amin again ordered the Poppe's body be taken to a destination not known to the medical team. The body was taken away very early in the morning.
Professor Tumwine said "We closed the departments offices at 5pm. As we walked out, we found the body lying on the ground".
"We were baffled. We did not know what to do with it. There was no one to ask what had happened to the body and why it had been dumped outside the department".
"We picked up the body. Cleaned and kept in a place in the maximum security within the department. Only three people had access to the place. We also agreed that every effort should be made to indicate that the body was no longer at Mulago".
"Fortunately, no one approached us to demand the body. Perhaps some people (Amin's man) talked to the junior fellows at the department who did not know where the body was", the Professor said.
Poppe Laid to RestBy Charles Kizigha
The body of the late former West Lake Region Police Commander Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Hans Poppe, was laid to final rest with full military honours at Makanyigio Cemetary in Iringa, his home town.
The funeral, belived to be the biggest ever to be held in the Iringa Region, was attended by hundreds of thousands of mourners including the Junior Ministers in the Ministries of Home Affairs and the Defence and National Service Ndugu Ali Mchumo and Colonel Moses Nnauyi, respectively Senior Commissioner of Police S. Liani and the Member of The Party Central Committee, Ndugu Hamis Darweshi, who is also a member of the Zanzibar Revolutionary Council, were also in attendance.
Almost the entire population of Iringa -- joined by mourners from Morogoro, Mbeya, Dar es Salaam, Shinyanga and West Lake Regions -- turned up to accord Hans Poppe a heroic burial.
Hundreds of mourners could not control their emotions as they passed by the coffin to pay their last respects to Poppe in tears.
Mourners vividly saw how Poppe's body was inhumanly handled by fascist Idi Amin's murderous gang.
Among the mourners was Ugandan nine man deligation led by Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ndugu Okoth Ogola.
At the cemetary a guard of honour, mounted by the police Fielf Force Unit, and the army will linger on the minds of Tanzanians. The Party and Government as a tribute to a man who died in the service of his country.
Ndugu Ogola, on behalf of the people of Uganda said: "The natural ties binding good relationship between Uganda and Tanzania has been reborn, hence the return home of the remains within only six weeks of liberation".
"It also demonstrates the good relationship between our two countries. This gesture and our physical attendace of the funeral proves our commital and our aim to maintain and even excel our relationship in the future".
Ndugu Mchumo narrated breifly the background of the late Hans Poppe and thanked and congratulated Professor S. Tumwine of Makere, Ndugu Cyprian Nkomero, a Laboratory Technician and Doctor James Makumbi, a Medical Superintendant at Mulago who took the risk of preserving and hiding the body of the late Poppe during the eight of years of terror of Idi Amin.
Poppe Laid to Rest
Tanzania received the body of former Senior Police Commissioner Hans Poppe who died in defence of the country. He was killed in 1971 at Mutukula by fascist Idi Amin aggressor troops.
The body was handed over to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ndugu Benjamin Mkapa by his Ugandan counterpart, Ndugu Otema Allimadi at Entebbe Airport on Wednesday.
Ndugu Allimadi told a somber gathering that the occasion was being attended with mixed feelings -- "We are sad and happy" he said.
He elloborated: "We are sad and dismayed by the death of dear brother who lost his life in the hands of the evil dictatorship of Idi Amin. That dear brother is Hans Poppe. He was killed in 1971 by Amin's forces while making his contribution in the process of liberating Uganda".
"Amin labeled him a Chinese mercenary and humiliated him even after death by displaying his body at Kololo Airstrip in Kampala. For us, we know who Hans Poppe was. He was neither Chinese nor mercenary".
"It is this which makes us happy; that the truth has surfaced and we are today able to give credit where it is due and to pay our heart felt tribute to a hero," Ndugu Allimadi said.
Ndugu Mkapa, on behalf of the people, Party and Government of Tanzania, thanked the Ugandan Government for the decision to hand over the body.
He also thanked the Superintendant, Doctors and Technicians of Mulago Hospital for good work of preserving the body.
Ndugu Mkapa said: "Hans Poppe died in battle. He died in defence of his country's freedom, it's people and it's territorial integrety. He fought against an enemy of that freedom, an enemy of the people of Tanzania. He fought against the forces of aggression, of plunder, of aggrandizement, of evil, of death -- forces of Idi Amin.
"So he is a martyr, for freedom, for unity, for law, for neighbourliness, for the rule of law, for African brotherhood and African unity" Ndugu Mkapa stressed.
Ndugu Poppe was laid to rest on Friday at Iringa.
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