The real speech that President Idi Amin read at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Heads of State summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 1973: "Let me state that the expulsion of Asians was not motivated by racism as alleged by imperialists. Since the country’s independence in 1962, the government offered these ‘alien Asians’ citizenship, after coming in as destitutes and making great fortunes. They refused; not only did they reject our hospitality thus, but they were not even prepared to return to their motherland, the Indian sub-continent. They were in truth British, in spirit and aspiration. A retired Indian government finance minister said that these Asians had been sending about £300 million ($525 million at current rates) annually to the UK from the East African states of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It was an intolerable state of affairs that our limited developing economy should be so milked dry by an alien minority, who blatantly rejected identifying themselves with us. It is significant that out of their free choice these people did not go to Asia but preferred the UK, principally, of course, because their fortune was safely banked there. The justice of my action is evidenced by the fact that our relations with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, are very friendly and mutually beneficial, for I am convinced of the significant necessity of African-Asian solidarity."
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