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Idi Amin Dada (?1926-2003)Ugandan dictator. Probably born in Koboko, he joined the colonial British army's King's African Rifles in 1946 as a cook. He soon became a soldier and excelled as a boxer and rugby player. Amin took part in British campaigns against independence movements in Burma and Kenya, where he fought as a sergeant during the crushing of the Mau Mau rebellion in 1952. Despite early signs of brutal behaviour, he rose quickly and became commander of the newly independent Ugandan army in 1966. In January 1971, Major-General Amin took advantage of the absence of President Milton Obote, who was out of the country, to seize the capital Kampala. He proclaimed himself head of state on 26 January and dissolved parliament soon after. At first popular among his people, he reversed the socialist policies of his predecessor, thus winning British and American approval. But his rule favoured the Muslims of northern Uganda, where he originated, and he ruled through arbitrary executions and terror. He expelled most Ugandan Asians in 1972. The rest of the decade was marked by mysterious disappearances and the rhetoric of ethnic hatred as Amin attacked Jews and various African tribes. No other African ruler has acted so blatantly in the interests of a small group against the rest. Despite the fact that he served as chairman of the Organisation of African Unity in 1975-76, he claimed areas of Tanzania as part of a 'Greater Uganda'. In 1978, he invaded that country, but his troops were soon forced to retreat. When the Tanzanians captured Kampala and reinstated Obote, Amin fled abroad. He lived in exile in Libya, Iraq and finally Saudi Arabia, dying in Jeddah in 2003, apparently from a combination of high blood pressure, kidney failure and other ailments. |
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