Uganda's first prime minister dead at 80

The late Milton Obote, Uganda's first prime minister and two-time president, was remembered Tuesday as an outstanding leader by some Ugandans, while others said that they would not mourn a man held responsible for the deaths of as many as 500,000 people. Henry Mayega, secretary-general of the Ugandan People's Congress, said Obote, 80, died Monday afternoon in a Johannesburg hospital after being hospitalized for several weeks. He had been living in self-imposed exile in Zambia.

Information Minister James Nsaba Buturo said that the Ugandan Cabinet was meeting Tuesday and would make a statement later.

No funeral arrangements have been announced as yet.

Information Minister James Nsaba Buturo said that the Ugandan Cabinet was meeting Tuesday and would make a statement later.

No funeral arrangements have been announced as yet.

Godfrey Binaisa, a former Ugandan president, told The Associated Press Tuesday that Obote was a good ruler.

"He resolved tribal disputes and handled them skillfully. Obote was not a bad man. During his rule especially in the 1960s the country was stable," said Binaisa, who served as attorney general under Obote.

But his feelings were not shared by everyone in Uganda, where Obote's control of the Ugandan People's Congress from exile was often used as a specter to discourage support for multiparty politics, reports the AP. I.L.