Idi Amin is perhaps one of the most bizarre dictators the world has known. He rose through the British Colonial Army and soon became the ruler of the newly independent state of Uganda. His reign was characterized by horrific torture and murder and he killed a large number of his fellow countrymen. He deported the Asian inhabitants of his country and thus brought (even greater) economic chaos to Uganda. Ultimately, Amin was expelled from the country in 1979.
Young Years
Idi Amin Dada was born in the mid-1920s in Koboko or Kampala. He is said to have been the son of Andreas Nyabire, a member of the Kakwa, an ethnic group in Uganda, who converted to Islam and had his name changed to Amin Dada. He abandoned his family early on and Amin grew up in a small town in northwestern Uganda. In 1941 Amin went to an Islamic school in Bombo, which he left after four years. From that moment on he had all kinds of different jobs. In time, he was recruited by a British soldier for the colonial army.
Colonial times
In 1946, Amin became a member of the King’s African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army. He has always indicated that he took part in the Burma campaign during the Second World War, but papers show that he only joined the army after the war. Amin spent the following years as a soldier in Kenya, where he was deployed against Somali rebels and Mau Mau fighters, among others. In 1953 he was promoted to sergeant. In 1959, Amin was promoted to Afande, the highest possible rank for an African in the colonial army. He returned to Uganda, where he was appointed lieutenant in 1961. With the independence of Uganda in 1962, Amin’s career took off and he became a major a year later.
Amin and Obote
During this period, Amin worked with Prime Minister Obote, including in smuggling gold and ivory from neighboring Congo. Together they also ensured that President Kabaka Mutesa ll of Buganda was exiled. Obote took his position and Amin was appointed colonel and army chief. Amin had now started to fill the positions in the army with people from northern Uganda, mainly from tribes from the region bordering Sudan, such as the Kakwa, Nubians and Lugbara. The relationship between Obote and Amin continued to deteriorate and in 1969 Amin supported a group that attempted to assassinate Obote. From this moment on, Amin feared that Obote would take revenge and on January 25, 1971 he staged a coup. He promised elections and released many political prisoners and arranged a state funeral for the former president and king of Buganda Mutesa.
Killer
A week after his coup, Amin was declared president, military tribunals were placed above civil law and soldiers were installed in important posts. His State Research Bureau became Uganda’s new and soon feared security service. Obote fled to neighboring Tanzania, soon followed by many other Ugandans. In 1972, these refugees attempted to remove Amin from power, but this failed and Amin began purges in the army, mainly of people from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups. Soon other ethnic groups were also persecuted, as were journalists, lawyers, intellectuals and others. Amin made enormous numbers of victims among his population, the number varying from at least 80,000 to 500,000.
Asians
In 1972, Amin began expelling the Asian population from Uganda. These Asians, mostly Indians and born in Uganda, played a very important role in Uganda’s economy. In the end, 80,000 people were actually deported and whose shops and businesses were nationalized, which meant that most of them quickly went bankrupt, further deteriorating the already poor economy.
Entebbe
Amin’s politics were bizarre in every respect. For example, he broke ties with England and Israel, while Israel in particular had provided weapons for Amin for a long time. He expropriated British holdings in Uganda. Amin then turned to the Soviet Union and Libya, with Gaddafi providing him with support and now Amin became a staunch opponent of his former supporter Israel. He supported the hijacking of an Air France plane at Entebbe National Airport by the Palestinian group PFLP-EO (Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations) and two members of the German Revolutionare Zellen. Ultimately, Israeli commandos flew into the country and freed the 103 passengers, who were held hostage (known as Operation Entebbe or Operation Thunderbolt).
On the run
By 1978, support for Amin had declined enormously, both among the population and among his own government. In November 1978, Vice President Mustafa Adrisi was injured in a car accident and troops loyal to him mutinied. Amin sent troops against the mutinous soldiers, who then partly fled to Tanzania. This caused Amin to accuse President Nyerere of Tanzania of attempting to invade Uganda. He sent Ugandan troops to the Tanzanian border, where they annexed the Kagera region. In January 1979, the Tanzanians struck back, with the help of Ugandans who had fled. On April 11, 1979, Amin was forced to leave the country. Amin initially fled to Libya, but then settled in Saudi Arabia, where the royal family financed his stay. In 1989, Amin tried to return to Uganda, but during his stay in Congo (then Zaire), Congolese leader Mobutu forced him to return to Saudi Arabia. On August 16, 2003, Amin died in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.