Idi Amin Dada

CA. 1925 to ...

Former President of Uganda

Idi Amin rose from enlisted soldier to become one of Africa's most notorious leaders. Of Kokwa extraction, he joined the King's African Rifles in 1946 and served in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising (1952 to 1956). He was also the heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda from 1951 to 1960. Amin's rise through the ranks was swift: he was one of the few Ugandans to become an officer before independence in 1962, and he was a major general and the commander of the army and airforce by 1968.

After independence, Ugandan President Milton Obote and Amin were close allies. Both were accused of god-smuggling in 1966, and when Obote suspended the constitution and declared himself executive president, he used Amin and the army to shore up his position. Amin had developed close ties with Sudanese and Congolese insurgents as the head of army recruitment and, through these contacts, established links with British and Israeli agents. Obote became suspicious of Amin and placed him under house arrest in 1970.

In January 1971, while Obote was out of the country, Amin led a coup with the tacit support of Great Britain and Israel. He was welcomed as president at home and abroad, but his autocratic rule and brutal methods of dealing with enemies made him increasingly unpopular. He rid the army of Acholi and Langi soldiers (those from Obote's area) and replaced them with Kokwas and Sudanese. In 1972 after a force loyal to Obote tried to invade from Tanzania, Amin killed civilian Acholis and Langis, as well as the chief justice, the chancellor of Makerere College, and the governor of the Bank of Uganda. Later that year, in a self-declared economic war, Amin expelled British-passport holding Asians from Uganda because they controlled many of the nation's businesses. Within a few years, Amin's cronies had looted the businesses and, as a result all but destroyed the country's economy.

Amin repudiated the Western and Israeli support he had enjoyed and positioned himself as pro-Africa and pro-Palestine. Though only a small portion of Ugandans were Muslin, Amin declared it an Islamic state and received aid from may Arab countries, especially Libya. Despite Tanzania's refusal to recognize Amin as President of Uganda and rumors of his mistreatment of his citizens, Amin was elected chairman of the Organization of African States in 1975; the gathering was boycotted by Tanzania, Zambia, and Botswana because it was held in Uganda.

In 1976, after Palestinian hijackers operating with Amin's support brought a plane full of Israelis to the Entebbe airport, Israeli commandos stormed the airport and freed the hostages. Amin's regime received further international attention in 1977 after an Anglican archbishop and two cabinet ministers were killed under suspicious circumstances and more Acholis and Langis were murdered. No unified opposition arose with in Uganda because of the internal divisions that had been exploited since independence. Externally, little was done until after Amin invaded and annexed Tanzania's Kagera Salient to 1978.

Tanzanian forces invaded Uganda in early 1979 and came to serve as a point of cohesion for the various oppositional groups. After the Tanzania People's Defence Force and Ugandan rebels took Kampala on April 12, and defeated Uganda and Libyan units, Amin fled. During his reign he killed an estimated 300,000 people and ruined the Ugandan economy. Except for a failed attempt to return to Uganda through Zaire in 1989, Amin has remained in exile in Saudi Arabia.