and earned a spot in Obote's small inner circle of trusted advisors and amassed a large policy portfolio as one of the most powerful ministers in the Obote government. Bataringaya traveled internationally, representing Uganda on a tour of the United States and visiting Disneyland in Anaheim, California with his wife Edith Mary Bataringaya who headed the Ugandan Council for Women. He also represented the Ugandan government to the media of the world following the kidnapping of Brian Lea, a British diplomat who was kidnapped in Uganda in 1970. As a high-profile Catholic involved in the administration, Bataringaya also served as a liaison between the Catholic Church of Uganda and the Obote regime, helping open Catholic hospitals and Catholic schools throughout Uganda. Also as one of Obote's five most trusted ministers, Bataringaya was in charge of putting out numerous crises throughout his tenure as Minister of Internal Affairs. One such crisis was the 1966 Buganda Crisis, where Ugandan troops commanded by Idi Amin attacked Lubiri and exiled the Kabaka of Buganda, Mutesa II of Buganda, after the Bugandan regional parliament voted to suspend Buganda's incorporation into Uganda, thus leading to Obote and Bataringaya reunifying Uganda by force and sending Mutesa II of Buganda into exile in the United Kingdom via Burundi. This use of troops was criticized and faced resistance, and Bataringaya took much of the blame as the implementer of the crisis and the killer of several other Bugandan Kabaka loyalists. Idi Amin and Downfall Attempted Arrest of Amin Idi Amin, the Ugandan military official who eventually led a successful coup d'état against the Apollo Milton Obote government and became the third President of Uganda, was the eventual undoing of Basil Kiiza Bataringaya's political career and ultimately his life. A rift developed between Idi Amin and President Apollo Milton Obote that was exacerbated by Idi Amin's involvement in the First Sudanese Civil War from Idi Amin's base in the West Nile region of Uganda and Amin's alleged support for an attempted 1969 assassination attempt on Obote, a rift that ultimately led to Obote demoting Amin from his role as commander of all the armed forces of Uganda to the commander of the Army of Uganda. Idi Amin was seen as a threat to the Obote government, and Apollo Milton Obote had Basil Kiiza Bataringaya put in charge of the last minute attempted covert arrest of Amin. President Obote went to