Idi Amin
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Idi Amin addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York, 1975
3rd
President of Uganda
In office
1971 – 1979 Vice President
Mustafa Adrisi Preceded by
Milton Obote Succeeded by
Yusufu Lule Born c.1925
[1]
Koboko or
Kampala[1] Died 16 August 2003 (aged 78)
Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia Nationality Ugandan Spouse Malyamu Amin (divorced)
Kay Amin (divorced)
Nora Amin (divorced)
Madina Amin
Sarah Amin Profession Military officer Religion
Islam Idi Amin Dada Oumee (c.1925
[1] – 16 August 2003), commonly known as
Idi Amin, was a
Ugandan military dictator and the
president of
Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the
British colonial regiment, the
King's African Rifles, in 1946, and 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 rule was characterized 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 his regime is unknown; estimates from international observers and human rights groups range from 100,000
[2] to 500,000.
From 1977 to 1979, Amin titled himself as "
His Excellency,
President for Life,
Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor[3] Idi Amin Dada, VC,
[4] DSO,
MC, Conqueror of the
British Empire."
[5] In 1975–1976, Amin became the Chairman of the
Organization of African Unity, a
pan-Africanist group designed to promote solidarity of the African states.
[6] During the 1977–1979 period, Uganda was appointed to the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
[7]
Dissent within Uganda, and Amin's attempt to
annex the
Kagera province of
Tanzania in 1978, led to the
Uganda-Tanzania War and the fall of his regime in 1979. Amin fled to
Libya, before relocating to
Saudi Arabia in 1981, where he died in 2003.
Contents
Early life and military career
Amin never wrote an autobiography or authorized any official written account of his life. There are discrepancies as to when and where he was born. Most biographical sources hold that he was born in either
Koboko or
Kampala around 1925.
[8] According to Fred Guweddeko, a researcher at
Makerere University, Idi Amin was the son of Andreas Nyabire (1889–1976). Nyabire, a member of the
Kakwa ethnic group, converted from
Roman Catholicism to
Islam in 1910 and changed his name to Amin Dada. Abandoned by his father, Idi Amin grew up with his mother's family. Guweddeko states that Amin's mother was called Assa Aatte (1904–1970), an ethnic
Lugbara and a traditional
herbalist, who treated members of
Buganda royalty, among others. Amin joined an Islamic school in
Bombo in 1941. After a few years he left school and did odd jobs before being recruited to the army by a British colonial army officer.
[9]
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.
[8] He claimed he was forced to join the Army during
World War II and that he served in the
Burma Campaign,
[10] but records indicate he was first enlisted after the war was concluded.
[5][11] He was transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a
private in 1947 and served in the 21st KAR infantry battalion in
Gilgil,
Kenya, until 1949. That year, his unit was deployed to
Somalia to fight the Somali
Shifta rebels who were
rustling cattle there.
[12] In 1952 his brigade was deployed against the
Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal the same year, then to sergeant in 1953.
[9]
In 1954 Amin was made
effendi (
warrant officer), the highest rank possible for a
Black African in the
colonial British army of that time. Amin returned to Uganda the same year and in 1961 he was promoted to
lieutenant, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become
commissioned officers. He was then assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's
Karamojong and Kenya's
Turkana nomads. In 1962 he was promoted to captain and then, in 1963, to
major. The following year, he was appointed Deputy Commander of the Army.
[9]
Amin was an active athlete during his time in the army. At 193 cm (6 ft 4 in), he was the Ugandan
light heavyweight boxing champion from 1951 to 1960, and a swimmer and rugby player.
[13][14]
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 declared himself executive president. He promoted Amin to
colonel and army commander. Amin led
an attack on the
Kabaka's palace and forced Mutesa into
exile to the United Kingdom, where he remained until his death in 1969.
[15][16]
Amin began recruiting members of
Kakwa,
Lugbara,
Nubian, and other ethnic groups from the
West Nile area bordering
Sudan. The Nubians had been residents in Uganda since the early 20th century, having come 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). Because many ethnic groups in northern Uganda inhabit both Uganda and Sudan, allegations persist that Amin's army consisted substantially of Sudanese soldiers.
[17]
Seizure of power
Eventually, a rift developed between Amin and Obote, worsened by 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 an attempt on Obote's life in 1969. In October 1970, Obote himself took control of the armed forces, reducing Amin from his months-old post of commander of all the armed forces to that of commander of the army.
[18]
Having learned 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 International Airport, the main artery into Uganda, and took Kampala. Soldiers surrounded Obote's residence and blocked major roads. A broadcast on
Radio Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption and preferential treatment of the
Lango region. Cheering crowds were reported in the streets of Kampala after the radio broadcast.
[19] 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 normalised. He promised to release all
political prisoners.
[20]
Amin was initially welcomed both within Uganda and by the international community. 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.
[21]
Presidency
Main article:
Uganda under Idi Amin
Establishment of military rule
On 2 February 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 he was suspending certain provisions of the
constitution and soon instituted an Advisory Defence Council composed of military officers, with himself as the chairman. Amin placed
military tribunals above the system of
civil law, appointed soldiers to top government posts and
parastatal agencies, and informed the newly inducted civilian
cabinet ministers that they would be subject to
military discipline.
[18][22] Amin renamed the presidential lodge in Kampala from Government House 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 the Kampala suburb of Nakasero became the scene of torture and executions over the next few years.
[23] Other agencies used to root out political dissent included the
military police and the Public Safety Unit (PSU).
[23]
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.
[24]
