Idi Amin

Idi Amin Dada Oumee (c. 1925 Koboko, Uganda, – August 16 2003, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) was an army officer and President of Uganda (1971 to 1979) whose regime was notorious for its brutality.

Deposition and exile

In October 1978 Amin ordered the invasion of Tanzania while at the same time attempting to cover up an army mutiny. With help of Libyan troops, Amin tried to annex the northern Tanzanian province of Kagera. Tanzania, under President Julius Nyerere, began a counter attack, enlisting the country's population of Ugandan exiles. On 11 April 1979, Amin was forced to quit the capital, Kampala. The Tanzanian army took the city with the help of the Ugandan and Rwandan guerrillas.

Related Topics:
1978 - Tanzania - Mutiny - Kagera - President - Julius Nyerere - 11 April - 1979 - Kampala - Rwandan - Guerrillas

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Amin fled to exile, first in Libya, where sources are divided on whether he remained until December 1979 or 1980, before finding final asylum in Saudi Arabia. He opened a bank account in Jeddah and resided there, subsisting on a government stipend. The new Ugandan government chose to keep him exiled, saying that Amin would face war crimes charges if he ever returned.

Related Topics:
Libya - Saudi Arabia - Jeddah

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On July 20, 2003, one of his wives, Madina, reported that he was near death in a coma at the King Faisal specialist hospital in Jeddah. She pleaded with Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni that he might return to die in Uganda. The reply was that if he returned, he would have to "answer for his sins". Idi Amin died in Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2003, and was buried in Jeddah.

Related Topics:
July 20 - 2003 - August 16

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On August 17, 2003 David Owen told an interviewer for BBC Radio 4 that while he was the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary (1977–1979), he had suggested to have Amin assassinated. His idea was directly rejected. Owen said, "Amin's regime was the worst of all. It's a shame that we allowed him to keep in power for so long."

Related Topics:
August 17 - 2003 - David Owen - BBC Radio 4 - Foreign Secretary

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~