Idi Amin

Idi Amin Dada Oumee commonly known as Idi Amin, was Ugandan Military dictator and the President of Uganda from the year 1971-1979. Amin was born in 1925 near Koboko, in the West Nile Province, what is now present Republic of Uganda. His father deserted him in his early age and was brought up by his mother, who was a herbalist and diviner. He was from Kakwa enthnic group a small islamic tribe.
In the year 1946 Amin joined the King’s African Rifles - KAR (Britian’s Colonial African troops) and served in Burma, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda. Although Amin was considered to be a skilled soldier, he was brutal and had the reputation for excess cruelty. He rose through the ranks, reaching sergeant-major before finally being made an effendi, the highest rank possible for a Black African serving in the British army. He was also trained and educated in the UK during his military life.
Amin began to strengthen his position in the Ugandan army by using the funds received from smuggling and supplying of arms to the rebels in the southern Sudan. He developed his ties with British and Israeli agents in the country.  On the 25th day of January 1971, whilst President Obote was attending Commonwealth meeting in Singapore, Amin led a coup d’etat and took control of the country, declaring himself president. Popular history recalls Amin’s declared title to be: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular."
In the year 1972 Amin declared ‘economic war’ against the Uganda’s Asian population, who controlled most of the business, service and manufacturing sector of Uganda. He order the Ugandan Asians who were British passport holder to leave the country within three months. This hampered the ties with the British and he did also expel Israeli military advisors and turned instead to Colonel Muammar Gadhafi, the Libyan leader and USSR for support. He also increased his ties with PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) and was in full support of hijacking of flight 139, Air France A-300B Airbus from Athens in 1976, which later Israeli armed force rescued with almost all the hostage.
In October 1978 with the help of Libyan troops Amin tried to annex Kagera, the northern province of Tanzania, which share border with Uganda. Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere sending his troops and with the aid of Ugandan rebels, Kampala, the Ugandan capital was captured. Amin fled to Libya where he stayed for ten years and later shifted to Saudi Arabia, and died there in the year 2003. On the 16th of August 2003, Idi Amin ‘Butcher of Uganda’ died and was buried in Saudi Arabia.

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