Following the outbreak of the Uganda–Tanzania War, Ugandan rebels and exiles began making preparations for the establishment of a new government to follow Idi Amin's regime. After the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) had captured substantial territory, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania ordered it to halt to give time for the Ugandan rebels to convene and reorganise. The Ugandan rebels made due preparations, primarily led by former president Milton Obote and leftist intellectual Dani Wadada Nabudere in their own respective circles. As the Tanzanians began organising a conference for the rebels and exiles, Nyerere was reconsidering Obote's role in the movement. He did not want to give the impression that Tanzania was going to install a government of its own choice in Uganda by facilitating Obote's assumption of leadership of the rebel movement, and there was hostility to Obote from the Baganda people in southern Uganda as well as other countries such as Kenya. Nyerere also feared that Obote would stifle cooperation at the meeting and cause it to break up without success. He ultimately convinced Obote to refrain from attending. In place of Obote, many Ugandan exiles began favouring Lule, who was a Muganda and had the reputation of being a political moderate as well as a civil servant who was not tarnished by scandal or corrupt service in a past Ugandan regime.