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Idi Amin

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Idi Amin Dada
File:Uganda-Amin-10-Shillings-cr.jpg
Idi Amin on a ten-shilling note
3rd President of Uganda
In office
1971–1979
Vice PresidentMustafa Adrisi
Preceded byMilton Obote
Succeeded byYusufu Lule
Personal details
BornMid-1920s.[1]
Koboko or Kampala[1]
DiedJeddah, Saudi Arabia
NationalityUgandan
Spouse(s)Malyamu Amin (divorced)
Kay Amin (divorced)
Nora Amin (divorced)
Madina Amin
Sarah Amin
ProfessionMilitary officer

Idi Amin Dada (mid-1920s,[1] – 16 August 2003) was an Army officer and President of Uganda. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles, in 1946, and having advanced to the rank of Major General and Commander of the Ugandan Army, he took power in a military coup in january 1971, deposing Milton Obote. His reign was characterised by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings and the expulsion of Asians from Uganda. The number of people killed as a result of the policies of Amin's regime is unknown, estimates range from 80,000 to 500,000.[2]

Amin granted himself a number of grandiose titles, and for a period in 1977 – 1979 he was titulated "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor[3] Idi Amin Dada, VC,[4] DSO, MC, CBE.[5]".[2]

Dissent from within Uganda, and the attempt by Amin to annex a section of Tanzania in 1978 led to the Uganda-Tanzania War and the fall of his regime in 1979. He fled, and lived in Saudi Arabia until his death on August 16, 2003. Idi Amin's erratic personality and the brutality of his regime have been the subject of several films and documentaries including the Rise and Fall of Idi Amin in 1980 and the The Last King of Scotland in 2006.

Early life

Amin never wrote an autobiography, nor authorized any to be written. There are discrepancies as to when and where he was born. Biographical sources usually hold that he was born in Koboko or Kampala around 1925.[6]

According to Fred Guweddeko, a researcher at Makerere University, Idi Amin was fathered by Andreas Nyabire (1889–1976). Nyabire was an ethnic Kakwa and Catholic who converted to Islam in 1910 and changed his name to Amin Dada. Abandoned by his father, Amin grew up with his maternal family. Guweddeko states that Amin's mother was called Assa Aatte (1904–1970), an ethnic Lugbara and a traditional herbalist, who among others treated members of Buganda royalty. Amin joined an Islamic school in Bombo in 1941, where he excelled in reciting the Qur'an. After a few years he left the school, and did odd jobs before being recruited to the army by a British colonial army officer.[7]

Military career

Chronology of Amin's military promotions
 
King's African Rifles
1946 Joins King's African Rifles
1947 Private
1952 Corporal
1954 Effendi (Warrant Officer)
1961 First Ugandan Commissioned Officer, Lieutenant
 
Uganda Army
1962 Captain
1963 Major
1964 Deputy Commander of the Army
1965 Colonel, Commander of the Army
1968 Major General
1971 Head of State
Chairman of the Defence Council
Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces
Army Chief of Staff and Chief of Air Staff
1975 Field Marshal

Colonial British army

Amin joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army in 1946 as an assistant cook.[6] He claimed he was forced to join the Army during World War II, and that he served in the Burma Campaign,[8] but this is disputed as records indicate he was first enlisted after the war was concluded.[2][9]

He transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in 1947, and served in the 21st KAR infantry brigade in Gilgil, Kenya, until 1949 when his unit was deployed in Somalia to fight the Somali Shifta rebels who were rustling cattle.[10] In 1952 his battalion was deployed against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal the same year, then to sergeant in 1953.[7]

In 1954 Amin was made effendi (Warrant officer), the highest rank possible for a Black African in the colonial British army. Amin returned to Uganda the same year, and in 1961 he became one of the first two Ugandans to become Commissioned Officers with the rank of Lieutenant. He was then assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's Karamojong and Kenya's Turkana nomads. In 1962, Amin was promoted to captain, and to Major in 1963. The following year, he was appointed to Deputy Commander of the Army.[7] During his time in the army, the 193 cm (6'4") Idi Amin was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion from 1951 to 1960, as well as a swimmer and rugby player.[11][12]

Army Commander

In 1965 Prime Minister Milton Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle ivory and gold into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The deal, as later alleged by General Nicholas Olenga, an associate of the former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, was part of an arrangement to help troops opposed to the Congolese government trade ivory and gold for arms supplies secretly smuggled to them by Amin. In 1966, Parliament demanded an investigation. Obote imposed a new constitution abolishing the ceremonial presidency held by Kabaka (King) Edward Mutesa II of Buganda, and declaring himself executive president. He promoted Amin to Colonel and Army Commander. An attack on the Kabaka's palace, led by Amin, forced Mutesa into exile to the United Kingdom where he remained until his death in 1969.[13][14]

Amin began recruiting members of Kakwa, Lugbara and other ethnic groups from the West Nile area bordering Sudan. Nubians were also recruited into the army. The Nubians had been residents in Uganda since the early 20th century, having been brought from Sudan to serve the colonial army. In Uganda, Nubians were commonly perceived as Sudanese foreigners, and erroneously referred to as Anyanya (Anyanya were southern Sudanese rebels of the First Sudanese Civil War and were not involved in Uganda). Allegations still persist that Idi Amin's army consisted substantially of Sudanese soldiers — a misconception resulting from the reality that many ethnic groups in Northern Uganda inhabit both Uganda and Sudan.[15]

Seizure of power

File:Amin takes oath.jpg
Amin at the February 2, 1971 Presidential swearing-in ceremony.

A number of factors - including the support Amin had built within the army by recruiting from the West Nile region, his involvement in operations to support the rebellion in southern Sudan, and the attempted assassination of Obote in 1969 - eventually led to a rift between Amin and Obote. In October 1970, Obote himself took control of the armed forces, reducing General Amin from the post of commander of all the armed forces - which he had held for only a few months - to that of Commander of the Army.[16]

After hearing that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, Amin seized power in a military coup on 25 January 1971, while Obote was attending a Commonwealth summit meeting in Singapore. Troops loyal to Amin sealed off Entebbe airport, the main international airport, and took Kampala. Obote's residence was surrounded, and major roads were blocked. A broadcast on Radio Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption, and for giving preferential treatment to the Lango region. Cheering crowds were reported in the streets of Kampala after the radio broadcast.[17] Amin announced that he was a soldier, not a politician, and that the military government would remain only as a caretaker regime until new elections, which would be announced as soon as the situation was normal. He also promised to release all political prisoners.[18]

Idi Amin was initially welcomed both within Uganda and by the international community. In an internal memo, the British Foreign Office described him as "a splendid type and a good football player".[19] He gave former king and president Mutesa (who had died in exile) a state burial in April 1971, freed many political prisoners, and reiterated his promise to hold free and fair elections to return the country to democratic rule in the shortest period possible.[20]

Amin's rule

Main article: Uganda under Idi Amin

Establishment of military rule

On February 2, 1971, one week after the coup, Amin declared himself president of Uganda, Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, Army Chief of Staff and Chief of Air Staff. He announced that certain provisions of the Constitution had been suspended, and soon instituted an advisory Defence Council composed of military officers, with himself as the chairman. Military tribunals were placed above the system of civil law, soldiers were appointed to top government posts and parastatal agencies, and the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers were informed that they would be subject to military discipline.[16][21] The presidential lodge in Kampala, known as Government House, was renamed to "the Command Post". He disbanded the General Service Unit (GSU), an intelligence agency created by the previous government, and replaced it with the State Research Bureau (SRB). SRB headquarters at Nakasero became the scene of torture and executions over the next several years.[22] Other agencies used to root out political dissent included the Military Police and the Public Safety Unit (PSU).[22]

Obote took refuge in Tanzania, having been offered sanctuary there by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. He was soon joined by 20,000 Ugandan refugees fleeing Amin. In 1972, the exiles attempted to regain the country through a poorly organized coup attempt, without success.[23]

Persecution of ethnic and other groups

File:Luwum and Amin.jpg
Archbishop Janani Luwum (right) and Idi Amin. The Archbishop was later murdered

In retaliation to the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972, Amin began purging the army of Obote supporters – predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups.[24] In July 1971, Lango and Acholi soldiers were massacred in the Jinja and Mbarara Barracks,[25] and by early 1972, some 5,000 Acholi and Lango soldiers, and at least twice as many civilians had disappeared.[26] The victims soon came to include members of other ethnic groups, as well as religious leaders, judges, lawyers, students and intellectuals, criminal suspects and foreign nationals. This created conditions in which many other people were killed for criminal motives or simply at will.[27] Bodies were dumped into the River Nile, on at least one occasion in quantities sufficient to clog the Owen Falls hydro-electric Dam in Jinja.[28]

The killings, for ethnic, political and financial reasons, continued throughout Amin's eight-year reign.[26] The exact number of people killed is unknown. The International Commission of Jurists estimated the death toll at not less than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. An estimate compiled by exile organisations with the help of Amnesty International, put the number killed at 500,000.[2]

Among the most prominent people killed were: Benedicto Kiwanuka, the former Prime Minister and later Chief Justice; Janani Luwum, the Anglican Archbishop; Joseph Mubiru, the former Governor of the Central Bank; Frank Kalimuzo, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University; Byron Kawadwa, a prominent playwright; and two of Amin's own cabinet ministers, Erinayo Wilson Oryema and Charles Oboth Ofumbi.[29]

In 1977 the first from-the-inside exposé of Amin's rule was published. Henry Kyemba, Amin's Health Minister and a former official of the first Obote regime, defected and resettled in Britain. Kyemba wrote and published A State of Blood, which gave an in-depth account of Amin's rule.

Expulsion of Asians

Main article: Expulsion of Indians in Uganda in 1972

In August 1972, Idi Amin declared what he called an "economic war", a set of policies which included the expropriation of properties owned by Asians and Europeans. Uganda's Asians, who numbered 80,000, were mostly Indians born in the country, their ancestors having come from India to Uganda when the country was still a British colony. Many owned businesses, including large-scale enterprises, forming the backbone of the Ugandan economy. On August 4, 1972 Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, but to exempt professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. Most of the Asians with British passports - around 30,000 - emigrated to Britain. Others went to Canada, Australia, India, the U.S. and Sweden.[30][31][32]

After their expulsion, businesses and properties belonging to the Asians were expropriated, most of them handed over to Amin's supporters. The businesses were mismanaged, and industries collapsed from lack of maintenance, proving disastrous for the already declining economy.[21]

International relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Uganda
File:Amin is carried.jpg
In 1974, Amin arrived at a party in a sedan chair carried by four local British businessmen who, as Amin explained, were thus demonstrating "the new white man's burden."[33]

The expulsion of Indian citizens severed relations between India and Uganda. The Indian Government warned Uganda of dire consequences if no actions were taken to prevent the anti-Indian violence. However, ignored by Amin, India did not take any diplomatic action against Uganda.

In 1972, Amin severed diplomatic ties with Britain and nationalised 85 British-owned businesses. He also expelled Israeli military advisors, turning instead to Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya and the Soviet Union for support.[24]

In 1973, the United States closed its embassy in Kampala, after US Ambassador Thomas P. Melady recommended that the United States reduce its presence in Uganda. Melady described Amin's regime as "racist, erratic and unpredictable, brutal, inept, bellicose, irrational, ridiculous, and militaristic".[34]

In June 1976 Idi Amin allowed an Air France aeroplane hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - External Operations (PFLP-EO) and two members of the German "Revolutionäre Zellen" to land at Entebbe Airport. At Entebbe, the hijackers were joined by three more. Soon after, 156 hostages were released and flown to safety, while 83 Israeli citizens and/or Jews were held hostage together with 20 others who refused to abandon them. In the subsequent Israeli rescue operation, dubbed "Operation Entebbe", nearly all of the hostages were freed. Three hostages died and ten were wounded; six hijackers, 45 Ugandan soldiers, and one Israeli soldier, Jonathan Netanyahu, were killed. This incident further soured international relations, leading Britain to close its High Commission in Uganda.[35]

Uganda under Amin embarked on a large military build-up, which raised concerns in Kenya. Early in June 1975, Kenyan officials impounded a large convoy of Soviet-made arms en route to Uganda at the port of Mombasa. Tension between Uganda and Kenya reached its climax in February 1976 when Amin announced that he would investigate the possibility that parts of southern Sudan and western and central Kenya, up to within 32 km of Nairobi, were historically a part of colonial Uganda. The Kenyan Government responded with a stern statement that Kenya would not part with "a single inch of territory". Amin finally backed down after the Kenyan army deployed troops and armoured personnel carriers along the Kenya-Uganda border.[36]

Amin's erratic behaviour

Idi Amin was portayed by Joseph Olita in the Rise and Fall of Idi Amin, a film that helped advance Amin's image in popular culture.

As the years went on, Amin became increasingly erratic and outspoken. In 1977, after Britain had broken diplomatic relations with his regime, Amin declared he had beaten the British and conferred on himself the decoration of CBE (Conqueror of the British Empire). Radio Uganda then read out the whole of his new title: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor[37] Idi Amin Dada, VC,[38] DSO, MC, CBE.".[2] In 1971, Amin and Zaire's president Mobutu renamed Lake Albert and Lake Edward to Lake Mobutu Sese Seko and Lake Idi Amin Dada respectively.[39]

Many foreign journalists considered him a somewhat comical and eccentric figure. In 1977, Time magazine called him a "killer and clown, big-hearted buffoon and strutting martinet".[33] Idi Amin became the subject of many rumours and myths, including a widespread rumour that he was a cannibal. Some of the unsubstantiated myths were spread and popularised by the 1980 film, Rise and Fall of Idi Amin.[40]

Deposition and exile

Main article: Uganda-Tanzania War

By 1978, Amin was facing increasing dissent from within Uganda, his circle of close associates having shrunk significantly. After the killings of Archbishop Luwum and ministers Oryema and Oboth Ofumbi in 1977, several of Amin's ministers defected or fled to exile.[41] Later that year, after Amin's Vice President, General Mustafa Adrisi was injured in a suspicious car accident, troops loyal to him mutinied. Amin sent troops against the mutineers, some of whom had fled across the Tanzanian border.[21] Amin then accused Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere of waging war against Uganda, ordered the invasion of Tanzanian territory, and formally annexed a section of the Kagera Region across the boundary.[21][23]

Nyerere mobilized the Tanzania People's Defence Force and counterattacked, joined by several groups of Ugandan exiles who had united as the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). Amin's army retreated steadily, and despite military help from Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi, he was forced to flee on April 11, 1979 when Kampala was captured. He escaped first to Libya, but ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia.[6]

In 1989, Amin, who had always held that Uganda needed him, and who never expressed remorse for the crimes of his regime,[42] attempted to return to Uganda, apparently to lead an armed group organized by Col. Juma Oris. He reached Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), before Zairian President Mobutu forced him to return to Saudi Arabia.

Family and associates

Wives

A polygamist, Idi Amin married at least five wives, three of whom he divorced. He married his first wife, Malyamu in 1966, and his second, Kay, in the same year. In 1967 he married Nora, and Nalongo Madina in 1972. On March 26, 1974 he announced on Radio Uganda that he had divorced Malyamu, Nora and Kay.[43][44] Malyamu was arrested in Tororo on the Kenyan border in April 1974, accused for smuggling a bolt of fabric into Kenya. She later moved to London.[43][45] Kay died on August 13, 1974 reportedly from an attempted surgical abortion performed by her lover Doctor Mbalu Mukasa (who himself committed suicide). Her body was found dismembered.[43] In August 1975, during the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit meeting in Kampala, Amin married Sarah Kyolaba. Sarah's boyfriend, whom she was living with before she met Amin, vanished and was never heard of again. According to The Monitor, he married a seventh wife a few months before his death in 2003.[45]

Children

Sources differ widely on the number of children Amin fathered, most stating between 30 and 45.[46] Taban Amin, Idi Amin's eldest son, was until 2003 the leader of West Nile Bank Front (WBNF), a rebel group opposed to the Government of Yoweri Museveni. In 2005 he was offered amnesty by Museveni, and in 2006 he was appointed as a deputy director general of the Internal Security Organisation.[47] Another of Amin’s sons, Haji Ali Amin, ran for election as chairman of Njeru Town council (ie. Mayor) in 2002, but was not elected.[48] In early 2007, the award-winning film The Last King of Scotland, in which Forest Whitaker portrays Idi Amin, prompted one of his sons, Jaffar Amin, to speak out in his father's defence. Jaffar Amin said he was writing a book to counter his father's reputation.[49]

Associates

Among Amin's closest associates were Bob Astles, a British-born confidant of Amin, was considered by many to be a malign influence on Amin, and by others as a moderating presence.[50] Isaac Malyamungu was also an instrumental affiliate and one of the most feared officers in Amin's army.[41]

Death

On 20 July 2003, one of Idi Amin's wives, Madina, reported that he was near death, and in a coma at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She pleaded with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni that he be allowed to return to die in Uganda. Museveni replied that Amin would have to "answer for his sins the moment he was brought back."[51] Idi Amin died in Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2003, and was buried in Ruwais cemetery in Jeddah.[52]

Portrayal in the media

Dramatizations

Documentaries

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c Sources often hold that Amin was born in Koboko or Kampala, circa 1925, noting that the exact date of his birth is unknown (Encyclopædia Britannica Encarta, Columbia Encyclopedia). According to researcher Fred Guweddeko, Amin was born on May 17, 1928,[1] but that is also disputed.[2]. Upon his death, medical officials said he had died at the age of 80, which would make his year of birth 1923. The only clarity hence is that Amin was born in the mid-1920s
  2. ^ a b c d e "Obituary: Idi Amin", The Guardian, 2003-08-18.
  3. ^ He conferred a doctorate of law on himself from Makerere University[3]
  4. ^ Victorious Cross (VC) was a medal made to emulate the British Victoria Cross [4]
  5. ^ CBE: Conqueror of the British Empire
  6. ^ a b c "Idi Amin", Encyclopædia Britannica
  7. ^ a b c "Rejected then taken in by dad; a timeline", The Monitor, 2004-03-01
  8. ^ General Idi Amin (Google Video). Uganda: Janus Films.
  9. ^ Why Didn't Amin Rot and Die in Jail?, Strategy Page, August 20, 2003
  10. ^ Jan Palmowski, Dictionary of Contemporary World History: From 1900 to the present day. Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2003 (ISBN 0-19-860539-0)
  11. ^ Idi Amin, Scotsman, August 16, 2003
  12. ^ Idi Amin Dada: A Hero in Ugandan Sports?
  13. ^ Library of Congress Country Studies: Uganda. Independence: The Early Years
  14. ^ Encyclopedia of World Biography: Idi Amin Dada Biography
  15. ^ Nantulya Paul, Exclusion, Identity and Armed Conflict: A Historical Survey of the Politics of Confrontation in Uganda with Specific Reference to the Independence Era, (2001) Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
  16. ^ a b British Council: General Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan government (February 2, 1971)
  17. ^ Idi Amin ousts Uganda president, BBC, January 25, 1971
  18. ^ Curfew in Uganda after military coup topples Obote, The Guardian, January 26, 1971
  19. ^ Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times, A wolf in sheep’s clothing, January 07, 2007. Retrieved Jan. 27, 2007.
  20. ^ Jude Mbabaali, The Role of Opposition Parties in a Democracy: The Experience of the Democratic Party of Uganda, August 2005. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
  21. ^ a b c d Library of Congress Country Studies: Uganda. Military Rule Under Amin
  22. ^ a b Library of Congress Country Studies: Uganda. Uganda: Postindependence Security Services
  23. ^ a b "An Idi-otic Invasion", Time Magazine, November 13, 1978
  24. ^ a b "Biography: Idi Amin Dada," About.com
  25. ^ Sue Lautze, Research on Violent Institutions in Unstable Environments: The livelihoods systems of Ugandan army soldiers and their families in a war zone, Hertford College, Oxford University1
  26. ^ a b Obituary: Idi Amin, Daily Telegraph, 17 September, 2003
  27. ^ Amnesty International: "Disappearances" and Political Killings - Human Rights Crisis of the 1990s - A Manual for Action
  28. ^ Idi Amin: 'Butcher of Uganda', CNN, August 16, 2003
  29. ^ "Who were Amin's victims?", Monitor Special report
  30. ^ Amin's Ecomomic War Left Uganda On Crutches, New Vision, July 29, 2003
  31. ^ "1972: Asians given 90 days to leave Uganda", August 7, 2006. Retrieved January 27, 2007.
  32. ^ Flight of the Asians, Time, September 11, 1972
  33. ^ a b "Amin:The Wild Man of Africa", Time Magazine, February 28, 1977
  34. ^ Telegram 1 From the Embassy in Uganda to the Department of State, January 2, 1973
  35. ^ BBC on July 7, 1976.British grandmother missing in Uganda
  36. ^ 'Dada' always rubbed Kenya the wrong way", Sunday Nation, 2003-08-17
  37. ^ He conferred a doctorate of law on himself from Makerere University[5]
  38. ^ Victorious Cross (VC) was a medal made to emulate the British Victoria Cross [6]
  39. ^ Purges and Peace Talks, Time Octtober 16, 1972
  40. ^ "The myths surrounding Idi Amin", Moses Serugo, The Monitor Special report
  41. ^ a b "Not even an archbishop was spared bishop was spared", The Weekly Observer, February 16, 2006
  42. ^ Riccardo Orizio Talk of the Devil: Encounters With Seven Dictators, Walker & Company, 2004 (ISBN 0-8027-7692-2)
  43. ^ a b c The life and loves of a tyrant, Daily Nation, August 20, 2003
  44. ^ Big Daddy and his women, The Monitor Special Report
  45. ^ a b Idi Amin is dead, The Monitor, August 17, 2003
  46. ^ According to Henry Kyema, in State of Blood (published in 1977), Idi Amin had thirty-four children. Some sources say Amin claimed to have fathered 32 children.[7]. A report in The Monitor (Uganda) says he was survived by 45 children.[8], while another in BBC gives the figure at 54[9].
  47. ^ Return of Idi Amin's son casts a shadow over Ugandan election, The Daily Telegraph, December 2, 2006.
  48. ^ Amin's son runs for mayor, BBC, January 3, 2002
  49. ^ "Idi Amin's son lashes out over 'Last King'", USA Today, February 22, 2007
  50. ^ Dictator's 'white rat' now a Wimbledon wobbly, Bundu Times, April - May 1998
  51. ^ Idi Amin back in media spotlight", BBC, 25 July, 2003
  52. ^ Ugandan dictator Idi Amin buried, CNN, August 17, 2003

See also

Preceded by President of Uganda
1971–1979 		Succeeded by
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