The dictator of Africa is amin. Foreign policy: “Entebbe raid”

Idi Dada Amin was born in either Koboko or Kampala, the son of Kakwa and Lugbara. In 1946 he joined the British Colonial Army's King's African Rifles (KAR).

Originally a cook, he rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in punitive actions against Somali rebels and then against Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. Following Uganda's independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, Amin remained in the military, rising to the rank of major and being appointed army commander in 1965. Realizing that Ugandan President Milton Oboto planned to arrest him for embezzlement of army funds, Amin carried out a military coup in 1971 and declared himself president.

In all the photos of Idi Amin, he is dressed in military uniform and has numerous awards, most of which were given to himself.

Childhood and youth

Amin did not write an autobiography or authorize official written information about his life. Thus, there are discrepancies regarding when and where he was born. Most biographical sources state that he was born in Koboko or Kampala around 1925. Other unconfirmed sources claim that Dada Ume Idi Amin's birth year may range from 1923 to 1928. Amin's son Hussein stated that his father was born in Kampala in 1928. Little is known about Idi Amin's childhood - a film about this period of his life has not yet been made.

According to Fred Guwedeko, a researcher at Makerere University, Amin was the son of Andreas Nyabira (1889-1976). Nyabir, a member of the Kakwa ethnic group, converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam in 1910 and changed his name to Amin Dada. He named his firstborn after himself. Abandoned by his father at a young age, the future dictator grew up with his mother's family in a town in northwestern Uganda. Guvedeko claims that the mother of future President Idi Amin was Assa Aatte (1904-1970), who belonged to the Lugbara ethnic group and was traditionally involved in herbalism.

Amin joined the Islamic school in Bombo in 1941. After a few years, he left school and began to wander through various part-time jobs, and was then recruited as an officer in the British colonial army.

Military service

Amin joined the British Colonial Army's Royal African Rifles (KAR) in 1946 as a cook's assistant. In his later years, he erroneously claimed that he was forced to join the army during World War II, and that he allegedly participated in the Burma Campaign. He transferred to Kenya for infantry service in 1947 and served with the 21st KAR Infantry Battalion in Gilgil, Kenya until 1949. This year his unit deployed to northern Kenya to fight Somali insurgents. In 1952, his brigade was deployed against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal that year and became a sergeant in 1953.

In 1959, Amin was made Afande (ensign), which was the highest rank for a black African in the colonial British army at the time. Amin returned to Uganda that same year, and in 1961 was appointed lieutenant, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become officers. He was tasked with ending (by suppression) the cattle war between the Karamajongo people of Uganda and the nomads of Kenya. In 1962, after Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom, Idi Amin was promoted to captain and then, in 1963, to major. In 1964, he was appointed deputy army commander, and the following year he himself took his place. In 1970, he was appointed commander of all armed forces of the state.

Army commander

The rise and fall of Idi Amin was a long and dramatic process. In 1965, Prime Minister Milton Obote and Amin were involved in a deal to smuggle ivory and gold into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deal, General Nicolas Olenga, an aide to former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, later claimed was part of an arrangement to help troops opposed to the Congolese government sell ivory and gold to supply weapons secretly sold by Amin. In 1966, the Ugandan Parliament demanded an investigation. Obote introduced a new constitution, abolishing the constitutional monarchy, thus overthrowing King Kabaku Mutesha II, and declared himself executive president. He promoted Amin to colonel and army commander. Amin personally led the attack on the Kabaka Palace and forced Mutesha to go to the United Kingdom, where he remained until his death in 1969.

Idi Dada Amin began recruiting Kakwa, Lugbara, South Sudanese and other ethnic groups from the West Nile region bordering South Sudan into his army. South Sudanese have lived in Uganda since the early 20th century, leaving their homeland to serve the colonial army. Many African ethnic groups in northern Uganda are found in both Uganda and South Sudan. Some researchers argue that the army of future Ugandan President Idi Amin consisted mainly of South Sudanese recruits.

Rise to power

After learning that Obote planned 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 in Singapore. Troops loyal to Amin sealed Entebbe International Airport and captured Kampala. Soldiers surrounded Obote's residence and blocked main roads. A broadcast on Radio Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption and preferential treatment of the Lango region. After the radio broadcast, cheering crowds appeared on the streets of Kampala. Amin announced that he was a soldier, not a politician, and that the military government would remain only as a temporary regime until new elections, to be announced when the situation was normalized. He promised to release all political prisoners.

President Idi Amin held a state funeral in April 1971 for Edward Mutesha, the former king (Kabaka) and president who died in exile, released many political prisoners and fulfilled his promise to hold free and fair elections to return the country to democratic rule as soon as possible .

Introduction of military dictatorship

On February 2, 1971, a week after the coup, Amin declared himself President of Uganda, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff. He announced that he was suspending certain provisions of the Ugandan constitution and soon established a Defense Advisory Council composed of military officers with himself as chairman. Amin placed military tribunals over the civil law system, appointed soldiers to senior government positions and parastatals, and informed newly appointed civilian cabinet ministers that they would be subject to military discipline.

Amin renamed the presidential apartment in Kampala from Government House to "Command Post". He disbanded the General Service Unit (GSU), the intelligence agency created by the previous government, and replaced it with the State Research Bureau (SRB). The RSF headquarters in the Kampala suburb of Nakasero became a site of torture and executions over the next few years. Other institutions used to persecute dissidents included the military police and the public security unit (PSU).

Obote took refuge in Tanzania, where he received asylum from the president of that country, Julius Nyerere. Obote was soon joined by 20,000 Ugandan refugees fleeing Amin. The exiles tried but failed to retake Uganda in 1972 in a poorly organized coup attempt.

Repression based on nationality

Amin responded to invasion attempts by Ugandan exiles in 1972 by purging the army of Obote's supporters, predominantly Acholi and Lango ethnic groups. In July 1971, Lango and Acholi soldiers were killed in the Jinjia and Mbarara barracks. By early 1972, approximately 5,000 Acholi and Lengo soldiers and at least twice as many civilians had disappeared. Soon, members of other ethnic groups, religious leaders, journalists, artists, officials, judges, lawyers, students and intellectuals, as well as foreign citizens began to become victims. In this atmosphere of violence, many other people were killed for criminal reasons or simply out of desire. Bodies were often dumped into the Nile River.

Killings, motivated by ethnic, political and financial factors, continued throughout the eight years of Ugandan President Idi Amin's reign. The exact number of those killed is unknown. The International Commission of Jurists has estimated the death toll to be at least 80,000 and more likely closer to 300,000.

Foreign policy

Amin was initially supported by Western powers such as Israel, West Germany and, in particular, Great Britain. In the late 1960s, Obote's move to the left, including the introduction of his Extraordinary Man Charter and the nationalization of 80 British companies, caused the West to worry that this president would threaten Western capitalist interests in Africa and make Uganda an ally of the USSR. Amin, who served in the British army and took part in suppressing the Mau Mau uprising before Uganda's independence, was known to the British as a staunch loyalist. This made him the obvious and most desirable successor to Obote in the eyes of the British.

Following the expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972, most of whom were of Indian origin, India severed diplomatic relations with Uganda. That same year, as part of his "economic war", Amin severed diplomatic relations with Britain and nationalized all British-owned businesses.

In parallel, Uganda's relations with Israel deteriorated. Although Israel had previously supplied Uganda with weapons, in 1972 Amin expelled Israeli military advisers and appealed to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and the USSR for support. Idi Amin later became an outspoken critic of Israel. Amin did not hesitate to discuss with advisers and journalists his plans for war with Israel, using paratroopers, bombers and suicide squadrons. Rumors spread in Africa and the West that Idi Amin was a cannibal.

The Soviet Union became the largest supplier of weapons to the regime of dictator Idi Amin. East Germany participated in the General Services Group and the State Research Office, two organizations that were best known for their terror against the opposition and civilians. Later, during the Ugandan invasion of Tanzania in 1979, East Germany attempted to erase evidence of its collaboration with these organizations.

In 1973, US Ambassador Thomas Patrick Melady recommended that the US reduce its presence in Uganda. Melady called Amin's regime "racist, disorderly and unpredictable, cruel, inept, warlike, irrational, ridiculous and militaristic." Shortly thereafter, the United States closed its embassy in Kampala.

1976 terrorist attack

In June 1976, Amin allowed an Air France airliner flying from Tel Aviv to Paris that had been hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and their German Communist helpers to land at Entebbe airport. Shortly thereafter, 156 non-Jewish hostages who did not have Israeli passports were released, while 83 Jews and Israeli citizens, as well as 20 crew members, continued to be held captive by the Arab-German terrorists and their Ugandan allies. In the subsequent Israeli hostage rescue operation, codenamed Operation Thunderbolt, on the night of July 3–4, 1976, a group of Israeli commandos flew out of Israel and seized control of Entebbe Airport, freeing almost all the hostages. Three hostages died during the operation and 10 were injured. 7 terrorists, about 45 Ugandan soldiers and 1 Israeli soldier, Yoni Netanyahu (unit commander) were killed. The fourth hostage, 75-year-old Dora Bloch, an elderly Jewish Englishwoman who was taken to Mulago Hospital in Kampala ahead of the rescue operation, was subsequently killed in the crackdown. This incident further strained Uganda's foreign relations, causing the United Kingdom to close its High Commission in Uganda. In response to Kenya's assistance in the raid, the cannibal Idi Amin also ordered the killing of hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda. According to some reports, he often ate the flesh of killed oppositionists.

Revanchism and militarism

Uganda, under Amin's leadership, began building up its military capabilities, which caused concern from neighboring Kenya. In early June 1975, Kenyan authorities confiscated a large Soviet arms convoy en route to Uganda at the port of Mombasa. Tensions between Uganda and Kenya reached their climax in February 1976, when Amin announced that he would consider annexing parts of southern Sudan and western and central Kenya, as well as 32 kilometers (20 miles) of Nairobi, supposedly part of historic Uganda. The Kenyan government responded with a stern statement that Kenya would not give up “one inch of territory.” Amin retreated after the Kenyan army deployed troops and armored personnel carriers along the Kenya-Uganda border.

Overthrow and expulsion

By 1978, Amin's number of supporters and close associates had dwindled significantly, and he faced growing popular dissent as the economy and infrastructure collapsed as a result of years of abuses. After the assassination of Bishop Luwum and ministers Oryema and Obom Ofbumi in 1977, several of Amin's ministers went into opposition or disappeared into exile. In November 1978, after Amin's vice-president General Mustafa Adrisi was injured in a suspicious car accident, soldiers loyal to him mutinied. Amin sent troops against the rebels, some of whom fled across the Tanzanian border. Amin accused Tanzanian President Julius Nyerre of waging war against Uganda, ordered an invasion of Tanzanian territory, and formally annexed a section of the Kagera region adjacent to the border.

In January 1979, Nyerre mobilized the Tanzania People's Defense Forces and counterattacked along with several groups of Ugandan exiles united to form the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). Amin's army steadily retreated, and despite military assistance from Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Amin was forced to flee into exile by helicopter on April 11, 1979, when Kampala was captured. He fled first to Libya, where he stayed until 1980, and eventually settled in Saudi Arabia, where the royal family allowed him to stay and paid him a generous subsidy in exchange for not returning to politics. Amin lived for several years on the top two floors of the Novotel Hotel on Palestine Road in Jeddah. Brian Barron, who covered the Ugandan and Tanzanian wars for the BBC as chief Africa correspondent with cameraman Mohamed Amin (namesake), met the former Ugandan dictator in 1980 and conducted the first interview with him since his overthrow.

During an interview he gave in Saudi Arabia, Amin said Uganda needed him and that he never had any remorse about the brutal nature of his regime.

Illness and death

On July 19, 2003, Amin Nalongo's fourth wife Madina reported that he was in a coma and nearly died at the King Faisal Research Center Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from kidney failure. She pleaded with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to allow him to return to Uganda for the rest of his life. Museveni responded that Amin would have to "answer for his sins the very moment he returns." Amin's family eventually decided to turn off life support, and the former dictator died on August 16, 2003. He was buried in Ruwais Cemetery in Jeddah in a simple grave without any honors.

In popular culture

In the eyes of modern viewers, Idi Amin was “glorified” by the film “The Last King of Scotland,” in which the bloody dictator was brilliantly played by Forrest Whitaker, who received an Oscar for this role.

June 23rd, 2016

The history of the 20th century knows many dictators whose names, even decades after their overthrow or death, are pronounced by their compatriots with fear, hatred or contempt. The most terrible and “cannibalistic” (sometimes literally) dictatorships in modern history existed in the countries of the “third world” - in Asian and African states.

How many of these specific African rulers have we already had, remember the topic or for example. But in general, but today we will have a new character.

In Uganda, Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada was in power from 1971 to 1979. He was called “Black Hitler,” however, the dictator of one of the poorest African countries himself did not hide his sympathy for the Fuhrer of the Third Reich. The eight years of dictatorship of Idi Amin Dada entered the history of the African continent as one of the bloodiest pages. Despite the fact that authoritarian leaders were in power in many countries of the continent, Idi Amin became a household name.

It was he who launched brutal terror against groups of Ugandans he hated - first against immigrants from India, whose impressive communities live in many East African countries, then against the Christian population of the country. In the West, Idi Amin has always been portrayed as a caricature because many of his actions were impossible to take seriously. What about the proposal to move the UN headquarters to Uganda or the demand to appoint him as the new head of the British Commonwealth instead of the Queen of England?

His rise to power is a natural consequence of the tribal struggle that flared up in Uganda in the first years of independence. There were forty tribes in the country, living in different areas, different distances from the capital, and occupying different social niches. In fact, Uganda was fragmented into tribal unions, and the tribal leaders enjoyed genuine authority, which cannot be said about the official government. And the country's first prime minister, Milton Obote, decided to unite Uganda into an integral power and give it a more “civilized” character. It would be better if he didn’t do this, many will say. Obote, one might say, upset the delicate balance of the vast tribal union. As they say, good intentions lead to hell.

Like many African dictators, the exact date and place of birth of the man named Idi Amin Ume Dada is unknown. Therefore, it is generally accepted that he was born on May 17, 1928, most likely in Koboko or Kampala. Idi Amin's father Andre Nyabire (1889-1976) came from the Kakwa people and first professed Catholicism, but then converted to Islam. Mother, Assa Aatte (1904-1970) belonged to the Lugbara people and worked as a nurse, although in fact she was a tribal healer and witch. When 39-year-old Andre Nyabire and 24-year-old Assa Aate had a baby boy, a hero who already weighed five kilograms in the first week, none of the relatives knew that after more than four decades he would become the sole ruler of Uganda. The boy was named Idi Awo-Ongo Angu Amin. He grew up to be a strong and tall guy. In his mature years, Eady was 192 cm tall and weighed more than 110 kilograms. But if the nature of the young Ugandan was not deprived of physical data, then the guy’s education was worse.

Until the end of the 1950s he remained illiterate and could not read or write. But he was distinguished by enormous physical strength. It was physical characteristics that played a major role in the future fate of Idi Amin.

In 1946, Idi Amin was 18 years old. Having changed a number of occupations, such as selling sweet biscuits, the strong guy decided to enlist in the colonial troops and was accepted as an assistant cook in a rifle division. In 1947, he was recruited into the 21st Division of the Royal African Rifles, which in 1949 redeployed to Somalia to fight local rebels. When in the early 1950s. The famous Mau Mau uprising began in neighboring Kenya, and parts of British troops from neighboring colonies were transferred there. I ended up in Kenya and Idi Amin. It was during his military service that he acquired the nickname “Dada” - “Sister”. In fact, the dissonant nickname for a Russian soldier in the Ugandan unit was almost commendable - Idi Amin often changed the mistresses he brought to his tent. He introduced them to his commanders as his sisters. That’s why his colleagues nicknamed the loving soldier “Sister.”

While serving in the colonial forces, Idi Amin was remembered by his commanders and colleagues for his incredible courage and cruelty against the rebels against whom the Royal African Rifles fought. In addition, Idi Amin was not let down by his physical characteristics. Nine years - from 1951 to 1960. — he remained the Ugandan heavyweight boxing champion. Thanks to these qualities, the military career of a completely illiterate soldier was successful. Already in 1948, a year after the start of his service, Idi Amin was awarded the rank of corporal, in 1952 - sergeant, and in 1953 - effendi. For the Royal African shooter, rising to the rank of “effendi” - warrant officer (roughly equivalent to a warrant officer) was the ultimate dream. Only Europeans were officers in the colonial troops, so we can safely say that by the age of 25, Idi Amin had already made the best possible career for an African in the British army. For eight years he served as an effendi in the Royal African Rifles battalion, and in 1961 he became one of two Ugandan non-commissioned officers to receive lieutenant's shoulder straps.

On October 9, 1962, Uganda gained independence from Great Britain. The Kabaka (king) of the Buganda tribe, Edward Mutesa II, was proclaimed president of the country, and Lango politician Milton Obote was proclaimed prime minister. The declaration of state sovereignty also meant the need to create the country's own armed forces. It was decided to build them on the basis of units of the former Royal African Rifles stationed in Uganda. The command staff of the “shooters” from among the Ugandans joined the emerging armed forces of the country.

A little background. The Buganda tribe was considered the elite in the country. The Bugandians are Christians, they adopted English culture from the former colonialists, lived in the capital region, and occupied various privileged positions in the capital. In addition, the Buganda are the largest tribe. The Bugandan leader, King Freddy, enjoyed the confidence of Obote, who made him the country's first president. The Bugandans raised their heads even more. But at the same time, representatives of other tribes, who felt oppressed by the Bugandians, complained. Among them, the small Langi tribe, to which Obote belonged, considered themselves deceived. To maintain a fair order, Obote began to curtail the powers of King Freddy, which led to new discontent, this time from the Bugandans. Eventually they began to hold widespread protests demanding Obote's resignation from power. There was no choice but to resort to force.

The choice fell on the second person in the Ugandan army, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Idi Amin. Amin had all the qualities Obote needed: he was a representative of the Kakwa tribe, backward and living on the distant outskirts of the country, as a result of which he was considered an outsider; did not speak English and professed Islam; He was physically strong, fierce and energetic, and his rustic stupidity and assertiveness allowed him to ignore any conventions.

Amin, as usual, quickly carried out the prime minister’s order: he fired at the president’s residence. King Freddy was warned by someone about the upcoming attack and managed to escape the day before. He went to England, where he lived happily the rest of his days and died peacefully.

This small favor brought Amin very close to Obote. Amin was increasingly promoted and became a confidant of the prime minister. Such a rapid rise was unique for a member of the Kakwa tribe; Kampala residents belonging to this tribe performed the lowest paid jobs here: the Kakwas were janitors, taxi drivers, telegraph operators, and laborers.

Gradually, Amin became the second person in the state, showing deep devotion to the fatherland and the head of government.

Idi Amin Dada was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Ugandan Armed Forces, and in 1968 he was promoted to the rank of Major General. Having gained almost unlimited control over the army, Idi Amin began to strengthen his influence in the armed forces. First of all, he flooded the Ugandan army with his fellow Kakwa and Lugbara tribesmen, as well as Nubians who migrated from Sudan during the colonial era.

Having converted to Islam at the age of 16, Idi Amin always gave preference to Muslims, who predominated among the representatives of the above-mentioned peoples. Naturally, President Milton Obote saw Idi Amin’s policy as a serious threat to his power. Therefore, in October 1970, Obote took over the functions of commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, and Idi Amin again became deputy commander-in-chief. At the same time, the intelligence services began developing Idi Amin as a notorious corrupt official. The general could be arrested any day, so when President Milton Obote was in Singapore at the British Commonwealth summit in late January 1971, Idi Amin carried out a military coup on January 25, 1971. On February 2, Major General Idi Amin proclaimed himself the new president of Uganda and regained his powers as commander in chief of the armed forces.

The illiterate African shooter was no stranger to cunning. In order to win the favor of the world community, Idi Amin promised that he would soon transfer power to a civilian government, released political prisoners, that is, he did his best to pose as a supporter of democracy. The new head of state tried to secure the patronage of Great Britain and Israel. He arrived in Israel to receive financial assistance, but did not find support from the country's leadership. Offended by Israel, Idi Amin broke off Uganda's diplomatic relations with this country and refocused on Libya. Muammar Gaddafi, who himself came to power not so long ago, supported many anti-Western and anti-Israeli regimes and national movements. Idi Amin was no exception.

As an ally of Libya, he could count on help from the Soviet Union, which he soon took advantage of. The USSR provided military assistance to Uganda, which consisted, first of all, in the supply of weapons. Quickly forgetting about democracy, Idi Amin turned into a real dictator. His title was: “His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al-Hajji Dr. Idi Amin, Lord of all the beasts on earth and fish in the sea, Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in general and in Uganda in particular, Knight of the Victoria Cross, Military Cross" and the Order "For Military Merit".

Having consolidated his power, Idi Amin began a policy of brutal repression. The first to come under attack were representatives of the military elite who did not agree with Idi Amin’s policies.

One of the bloodiest murders was the massacre of the army commander-in-chief Suleiman Hussein. He was beaten to death with rifle butts in prison, and his head was cut off and sent to Amin, who locked it in the freezer of his huge refrigerator. Later, Hussain's head appeared during a luxurious banquet, to which Dada had gathered many high-ranking guests. In the midst of the celebration, Amin carried his head into the hall in his hands and suddenly burst out with curses and curses at her, and began throwing knives at her. After this attack, he ordered the guests to leave.

However, from the very beginning Amin killed not only officers. The gangster habits of the dictator and his associates allowed them to deal with anyone who had a lot of money or tried to get to the bottom of the bloody truth. Two Americans who worked as journalists in different Ugandan publications turned out to be so curious. They interviewed a colonel, a former taxi driver. When it seemed to him that they wanted to know too much, he contacted Amin and received a short answer: “Kill them.” In an instant, the two Americans were finished, and the Volkswagen of one of them immediately became the property of the colonel.

By May 1971, that is, in the first five months of being in power, 10,000 Ugandans - senior officers, officials, and politicians - had died as a result of repression. Most of those repressed belonged to the Acholi and Lango tribes, which were especially hated by Idi Amin.

The bodies of the dead were thrown into the Nile to be devoured by crocodiles. On August 4, 1972, Idi Amin launched a campaign against the “petty-bourgeois Asians,” as he called the numerous immigrants from India living in Uganda and actively involved in business. All Indians, and there were 55,000 of them in the country, were ordered to leave Uganda within 90 days. By expropriating the business and property of people from India, the Ugandan leader planned to improve his own well-being and “thank” his fellow tribesmen - officers and non-commissioned officers of the Ugandan army - for the support.

The next target of repression by Idi Amin's regime were Ugandan Christians. Although Muslims in Uganda at that time accounted for only 10% of the country's population, the Christian majority was discriminated against. Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi Yanani Luwum, trying to protect his flock, addressed Idi Amin with a petition. In response, the President of Uganda, during a personal meeting with the archbishop, which took place at the Nile Hotel in February 1977, personally shot and killed the high-ranking cleric. Repressions against the most educated segments of the population, corruption, and theft of property have turned Uganda into one of the poorest countries in Africa. The only item of expenditure on which Idi Amin did not spare money was the maintenance of the Ugandan army.

Idi Amin had a positive assessment of the personality of Adolf Hitler and even planned to erect a monument to the Fuhrer of the Third Reich in Kampala. But ultimately, the Ugandan dictator abandoned this idea - he was put under pressure by the Soviet leadership, which feared that the USSR would be discredited by such actions of Idi Amin, who continued to receive Soviet military assistance. After the overthrow of Idi Amin, it became clear that he not only brutally destroyed his political opponents, but also did not hesitate to eat them. That is, along with the Central African dictator Bokassa, Idi Amin entered modern history as a cannibal ruler.

Idi Amin fed the corpses of his enemies to crocodiles. He himself also tried human flesh. “It’s very salty, even saltier than leopard meat,” he said. “In war, when there is nothing to eat and one of your comrades is wounded, you can kill him and eat him in order to survive.”

Edi Amina and Muammar Gaddafi

Idi Amin continued to work closely with the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose representative office he located in the former Israeli embassy in Kampala. On June 27, 1976, an Air France plane was hijacked in Athens. The militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the German left-wing radical organization “Revolutionary Cells” who captured it took the passengers hostage, among whom were many Israeli citizens. Idi Amin gave permission to land the hijacked plane at Entebbe airport in Uganda. The PFLP militants set a condition - to release 53 Palestinian fighters from prisons in Israel, Kenya and Germany. Otherwise, they threatened to shoot all passengers on the plane. The ultimatum expired on July 4, 1976, but on July 3, 1976, a brilliant operation by Israeli special forces was carried out at Entebbe airport. All hostages were released.

Seven militants who hijacked the plane and twenty Ugandan army soldiers who tried to stop the operation were killed. At the same time, all Uganda Air Force military aircraft at Entebbe airport were blown up. Israeli special forces lost only two servicemen, among whom was the commander of the operation, Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, the elder brother of the future Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. But Israeli commandos forgot to release 73-year-old Dora Bloch, who was taken to a Kampala hospital due to deteriorating health. Idi Amin, enraged after the impressive “raid in Entebbe,” ordered her to be shot (according to another version, he personally strangled an elderly Israeli woman).

But Idi Amin Dada’s biggest mistake was starting a war with neighboring Tanzania, a much larger country in terms of area and population. In addition, Tanzania was an African country friendly to the Soviet Union, and its leader Julius Nyerere adhered to the concept of African socialism. After the start of the war with Tanzania, Uganda lost support from the countries of the socialist camp, and relations with Western countries were damaged even earlier. Idi Amin could only count on the help of Arab countries, primarily Libya. However, the Ugandan army invaded Kagera province in northern Tanzania. This was a fatal mistake. Tanzanian troops, helped by armed forces of the Ugandan opposition, drove Idi Amin's army out of the country and invaded Uganda itself.

On April 11, 1979, Idi Amin Dada left Kampala in a hurry. He went to Libya, and in December 1979 he moved to Saudi Arabia.

The former dictator settled in Jeddah, where he lived happily for almost another quarter of a century. On August 16, 2003, at the age of 75, Idi Amin died and was buried in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The life of the bloody dictator, nicknamed “Black Hitler,” ended very happily: Idi Amin died in his bed, having lived to an old age, unlike the numerous victims of his regime.

Idi Amin is considered one of the most curious, odious and shocking personalities of the 20th century. He was involved in many unprecedented tragicomic incidents, which subsequently made him the subject of many stories and anecdotes. In the West and some Eastern European countries, he was considered an eccentric and comical person and was constantly ridiculed in cartoons.

Amin was extremely predisposed to receiving a variety of awards, so he lengthened his robe to accommodate most of the British medals and other World War II awards bought from collectors. The dictator became the object of ridicule from foreign journalists also because he appropriated to himself many pompous titles that were absolutely inconsistent with Amin’s actual power, for example, “Conqueror of the British Empire” and “King of Scotland.”

In addition to claims to become the head of the British Commonwealth of Nations instead of the Queen of Great Britain, in 1974 Amin proposed moving the UN headquarters to Uganda, citing the fact that his country contains the “geographical heart of the planet.”

One of Amin's most absurd decisions is his ephemeral declaration of a one-day war on the United States of America. The dictator of Uganda declared war only to declare himself the winner the next day.

Having become the full-fledged dictator of his country, Amin continued to engage in sports, in particular motor racing (as evidenced by the acquisition of several racing cars), and was also fond of Walt Disney animated films.

It is known that the dictator of Uganda considered Adolf Hitler his teacher and idol and even planned to erect a monument to the Fuhrer, but was stopped by the Soviet Union, with which Amin established close ties.

Also, after the end of his reign, information was confirmed, including from himself, that Amin was a cannibal and ate killed opponents and other subjects, storing parts of their bodies in the large refrigerator of the residence next to the unsuspecting foreign delegations received at audiences

However, I came across this opinion on one of the sites on the network: "Standard information ala "wiki", which was often done by not exactly military special correspondents, or in other words - the body arrived for 3 days, sat in a hotel, took a couple of photos from the balcony and went back to civilization to sell the article.
Plus, the British, who fell out of favor with IdiAmin, in every possible way fueled any topic that would throw him off, including complete nonsense.

I spent a happy childhood there, I was more than once in the palace and on the IdiAmin hacienda - a normal guy :) I still maintain relationships with people who were with my parents at the embassy from 1977 to 1980.

I think the same Sergei Potemkov (he was a military translator in Uganda at that time) is laughing out loud at such information."

sources

Amin’s figure was very impressive: one hundred twenty-five kilograms of weight with almost two meters in height. He was the champion of Uganda among heavyweight boxers, and while serving in the army he surpassed all other officers in physical indicators. Despite all this, he was very narrow-minded, had no education and had difficulty reading and writing. In the colonial army, where Amin served before Uganda gained independence, he was described as an “excellent guy” - strong, not overthinking and always meekly following the orders of his superiors.

The Buganda tribe was considered elite. The Bugandians are Christians, they adopted English culture from the former colonialists, lived in the capital region, and occupied various privileged positions in the capital. In addition, the Buganda are the largest tribe. The Bugandan leader, King Freddy, enjoyed the confidence of Obote, who made him the country's first president. The Bugandans raised their heads even more. But at the same time, representatives of other tribes, who felt oppressed by the Bugandians, complained. Among them, the small Langi tribe, to which Obote belonged, considered themselves deceived. To maintain a fair order, Obote began to curtail the powers of King Freddy, which led to new discontent, this time from the Bugandans. Eventually they began to hold widespread protests demanding Obote's resignation from power. There was no choice but to resort to force. The choice fell on the second person in the Ugandan army, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Idi Amin. Amin had all the qualities Obote needed: he was a representative of the Kakwa tribe, backward and living on the distant outskirts of the country, as a result of which he was considered an outsider; did not speak English and professed Islam; He was physically strong, fierce and energetic, and his rustic stupidity and assertiveness allowed him to ignore any conventions.

Amin, as usual, quickly carried out the prime minister's order: he loaded a 122-mm machine gun into his jeep and fired at the president's residence. King Freddy was warned by someone about the upcoming attack and managed to escape the day before. He went to England, where he lived happily the rest of his days and died peacefully.

Gradually, Amin became the second person in the state, showing deep devotion to the fatherland and the head of government. Therefore, Obote, who went to an international conference in Singapore in January 1971, was absolutely calm, leaving Uganda “in the care” of Idi Amin. And everything would have been fine if Amin had not suddenly rebelled. At the end of the conference, Obote learned terrible news: Amin raised an army and proclaimed himself ruler of Uganda.

Having seized power, Amin first of all pacified the rebellious Bugandians, doing it in an unexpectedly peaceful way: he convinced them that it was he who warned King Freddie about the attack and helped him escape, and that the shelling of his residence was allegedly carried out “for show” in order to calm Obote. Amin then returned the king's body to his homeland and handed it over to the Bugandians for a ceremonial burial.

After that, he took on his own army, mass killing the best officers whom he suspected of disobedience. He appointed his fellow tribesmen to the vacant seats. Janitors and taxi drivers, most often illiterate, suddenly became generals, majors and sergeants, which meant that from now on they were allowed a lot. Dada did not skimp on gifts, which he generously bestowed on his supporters.

Dada is Idi Amin's affectionate nickname, meaning "sister" in the Kakwa language. In the colonial army, the privileged young officer Amin led a very free life, fond of wine and women. They said that every day they saw several new “girls” near his tent. He answered the indignant officers without a twinge of conscience: “What do you want, these are my sisters!” This nickname has since stuck with him, becoming especially popular during the years of his dictatorship.

Amin went on a trip abroad, one of the goals of which was to ask for financial assistance from Great Britain and Israel. But he was refused, since the details of his regime and Amin’s very personality were already well known in the world. The country went bankrupt, production practically stopped. Amin then instructed the Central Bank to print millions of banknotes that no longer had value. Despite the country's difficulties, Amin ordered all Asians inhabiting Uganda to leave the country within three months, promising to exterminate the remaining months. Asians ran the most successful businesses and were also doctors and pharmacists. All of them hastily left Uganda, and the vacated business was transferred to Amin’s loyal friends - again, former loaders, laborers and drivers. Newly-minted businessmen did not know how to manage enterprises, as a result of which they quickly fell into decay.

Not understanding the reasons for the immediate decline of the economy, Dada desperately looked for ways to get out of the crisis. Gaddafi offered unexpected help. He promised to regularly allocate small sums to Uganda, and in exchange for this, Idi Amin would become an enemy of Israel. Dada agreed. Soon he expelled Israeli engineers from the country, who, as humanitarian aid, built dozens of facilities in the country, such as a passenger terminal, a modern airport, etc.

Dada became a fan of Gaddafi's idol, Adolf Hitler. He ordered the installation of a statue of the Fuhrer in the center of Kampala. Amin opened a representative office of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a terrorist organization led by Gaddafi, in Kampala. In addition, the dictator created a kind of Gestapo; The State Detective Bureau, as he called his organization, dealt with contract killings, torture and investigations. Its employees received rich gifts from their leader, some of which were the property of wealthy victims, and some were VCRs, cars, clothes and luxury items purchased in Europe and America with budget funds.

Eventually the country fell into complete decline. There was not enough Libyan money, and the appetites of Amin’s henchmen were growing. And then Amin simply allowed his people to kill civilians for profit. High-ranking bandits used centuries-old African traditions as a tool for taking money from the population.

In each village there were so-called body finders - experts in the forest surroundings, who, for a certain fee, looked for the bodies of the missing - all the dead had to be buried. And so the “strong guys” started kidnapping people, killing them, and then declared themselves to be seekers and offered to “find” a fellow tribesman. People brought them the most valuable things, and in return they gave out the “found” bodies, scattering them throughout the forests for show and bringing naive villagers to the place of “discovery”. There were hundreds of those kidnapped, and all the simple wealth of the people, down to the very last shilling, was easily squeezed out of the people.

Events continued until 1979, when Idi Amin was removed from power with the help of international forces. And all this time, the indicator of the ruler’s mood was the light in the windows of houses and on the streets of Kampala. The lights dimmed from time to time, or even went out completely. This happened due to the fact that the hydroelectric generator was clogged with hundreds of human corpses, which the patrol services did not have time to remove. The lights have gone out, which means another day of mass murder has come to an end and the Sister rests blissfully, licking her bloody fingers. Amin, among other things, was suspected of cannibalism, although this could not be proven.

And the coup in the country, which freed Uganda from a bloody dictator, occurred when Palestinian terrorists suddenly hijacked a plane during an interstate flight. The captors sent him to Entebbe (an airport in Uganda), where, with the help of Ugandan soldiers, they held hostages, threatening to kill them if terrorist prisoners were not released from prisons in Israel and Europe. Then the forces of the world powers managed to rescue the hostages, as well as quickly eliminate the “strong guys” and return power to Milton Obote, who had been in exile until then. But Amin managed to escape to Saudi Arabia, where he settled in a luxury hotel and spent the rest of his life in luxury, denying himself nothing.

TASS-DOSSIER /Alexander Panov/. The official inauguration of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who was re-elected for a fifth term following the elections held on February 18, 2016, is scheduled for May 12.

Early life, years of study

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was born in August 1944 into the family of pastoralist Amos Kaguta in Ntungamo district (Ankole sub-region, Western Region of Uganda). The exact day of Museveni’s birth, like many other people from peasant families in Africa at that time, was not recorded. August 15 was subsequently chosen as the official date, as the middle of the month. He received the name Museveni, which later turned into a surname, from his parents in memory of his father’s brothers who participated in the Second World War. "Museveni" - the singular form of the word "abaseveni" (sevenths) - was the name in his homeland for the Ugandan soldiers of the 7th Battalion of the Royal African Fusiliers of Great Britain.

Thanks to the efforts of his parents, Museveni received a good education at the prestigious Ntare Secondary School (Mbarara District, Western Region, Uganda). In 1967-1970 studied at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science. Topic of the thesis: “Fanon’s Theory of Violence: Its Verification in Liberated Mozambique.”

During his studies, Museveni became inspired by the ideas of Marxism and Pan-Africanism, becoming a fan of Che Guevara and other leaders of anti-imperialist and anti-colonial resistance. Having created the activist group "African Revolutionary Front of University Students", he organized and led a delegation to Mozambique, where at that time the rebel movement Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) was waging a national liberation struggle against the Portuguese colonial authorities. There Museveni received his first experience of combat training as part of the guerrillas and met the leaders of Frelimo.

In 1970 he returned to Uganda and got a job in the office of President Milton Obote.

The fight against Amin's regime

Shortly after the military coup and the coming to power of General Idi Amin (1971), Museveni was forced to flee to Tanzania. For several years, he combined his work as an economics teacher at Moshi College with the struggle in exile against Amin’s regime. Settling on preparations for guerrilla warfare, Museveni created the National Salvation Front (Fronasa) organization. It included opponents of Amin living both in exile and in Uganda itself. In February 1973, the Ugandan government managed to destroy the recruitment and training centers for fighters operating in the country, many of whom were arrested and publicly executed on Amin’s orders. After this, combat training of Fronas units began to be carried out in Frelimo camps in Mozambique.

In 1978, Idi Amin started a war against Tanzania. The Tanzanian army managed to stop the advance of the Ugandan troops and launch a counteroffensive. Together with her, the rebels of Yusuf Lule's Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF), joined by Museveni's Fronasa, also took part in the fight against Amin's troops. Having driven the enemy out of their territory, the coalition forces entered the territory of Uganda and on April 12, 1979 occupied the capital Kampala. After the overthrow of Amin's regime and the creation of the MNLF government, Museveni took over as Minister of Defense, becoming the youngest member of the government. He also retained a position in the government of Godfrey Binaisa, who succeeded Yusuf Lule as president two months later.

Second Civil War

In May 1980, following another military coup and the removal of Binaisa, a split formed in the ranks of the FNOU. Museveni, having left him along with his comrades, created a new party - the Uganda Patriotic Movement. On December 10, 1980, Uganda held its first general elections in 20 years, which resulted in Museveni's party winning just one seat in parliament. Having accused the victorious Milton Obote and his party of fraud, Museveni again began to prepare for armed struggle. On February 6, 1981, he announced the creation of the People's Resistance Army (PRA). The country resumed civil war. The so-called “Luwero triangle”, an area north of Kampala, was at the center of the fighting. On July 27, 1985, Lieutenant General Tito Okello staged a military coup and overthrew the Obote government. However, repeated attempts by the military junta to reach an agreement with Museveni and his supporters ended in failure due to continued repression and violence unleashed by Okello's loyal army in the rebellion-ridden rural areas. In early January 1986, the NAS launched an offensive on Kampala. Under rebel attacks, government troops abandoned the capital, and on January 29, Yoweri Museveni was proclaimed the new president of Uganda.

As President

During his swearing-in, Museveni promised deep socio-political change and a return to democracy. NAS was transformed into the National Resistance Movement (NRM; since 2005 it has operated as a political party). In order to overcome the ethno-regional disunity of the population provoked by the policies of previous leaders of Uganda, the VAT announced the inclusion of all Ugandans, regardless of their ethnicity, into its ranks. Museveni invited representatives of various parties, regions, ethnic groups and faiths to join the government. However, already in March 1986, a moratorium was introduced on the activities of political parties, explained by the need to fight separatism and achieve national unity.

Having led the country, Museveni made an ideological turn from revolutionary Marxism, which he had been passionate about in his youth, to the so-called economic pragmatism, which included cooperation with the IMF in carrying out market reforms. During his years in power, he managed to lead Uganda from a state of devastation and decline resulting from prolonged political instability into a leading country in East Africa with a stable economy. Using loans provided by the World Bank, new industrial equipment was purchased, roads and utilities were repaired. An independent judicial system was re-established in the country. Gradually in the 1990s. Museveni's image as a modern African leader was formed.

In 1996, Museveni won the presidential election with over 72% of the vote. In 2001 he was re-elected with 69% of the vote. On July 12, 2005, the Ugandan Parliament passed amendments to the 1995 constitution that abolished the limit on the number of presidential terms, thus opening the door for Museveni to stand for election and beyond (until he reaches 75 years of age). At the same time, the president agreed to hold a referendum (July 28, 2005), as a result of which a multi-party regime was restored in Uganda.

Since the 2006 elections, presidential candidates have been officially nominated by political parties. In 2006, 2011 and 2016 Museveni was re-elected with the support of the VAT, each time ahead of his rivals in the first round by a large margin (59.26%, 68.38%, 60.75% respectively).

On the eve of the 2016 elections, Museveni said that his main goal for the next presidential term was to unite the member countries of the East African Community (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan) into a single political federation.

Yoweri Museveni is a general in the Ugandan People's Army.

Interests, family

Museveni is the author of numerous political treatises and manifestos, articles and essays on socio-historical topics, repeatedly published in the form of collections of speeches and essays. Museveni also published an autobiographical book, Sowing the Mustard Seed: The Struggle for Democracy in Uganda, 1997, which described his rise to power through his participation in the rebel army and the struggle against the regimes of Idi Amin and Milton Obote.

Since 1973, he has been married to Janet Kataha Museveni (born 1948), has four children - son Muhoozi Kainerugaba (born 1974) and daughters Natasha Kainembabazi (born 1976), Solitaire Kukundeka (born 1980) and Diana Kyaremera (born 1976). 1981). Janet Museveni was elected to the Ugandan Parliament in 2006 and 2011, and has served as Minister of Karamoja Regional Affairs since 2011. Muhoozi's son Kainerugaba is a brigadier general of the Ugandan People's Army, commander of a special group of troops, which includes the presidential guard, responsible for the security of the head of state. He is considered one of the most likely successors to Yoweri Museveni as president of the country. Daughter Solitaire Kukundeka is a pastor of one of the Protestant churches in Kampala. Yoweri Museveni also has two sisters and three brothers, of whom the most famous is Caleb Akandwanajo, better known as General Salim Saleh, also a veteran of the war against Idi Amin's regime.

He is interested in cattle breeding and has his own herd of cows.

About the eccentric Albanian leader Enver Hoxha, who filled the country with bunkers, fell out with the whole world and never built socialism in the country. At the same time, the country's citizens yearn for the times of his rule, despite the fact that then it was forbidden to have pianos, cars, use foreign cosmetics and wear jeans. This time we are talking about the uneducated Ugandan tyrant Idi Amin, who ate his citizens, listened to bagpipes, wore a uniform with bought awards and admired Hitler. Lenta.ru talks about the dictator who claimed to have won the war with the United States and conquered Great Britain.

“I lead a calm, measured life. I devote myself entirely to Islam and Allah. I have no problems with anyone,” one of the bloodiest dictators, Idi Amin, told a Saudi journalist, reclining on a velvet sofa. The window of the villa in Jeddah, where the former leader of Uganda had lived for more than 10 years, was open, a light breeze from the Red Sea barely ruffled the curtain.

Amin, who fled on a private plane with one of his wives and 23 children to the Wahhabi kingdom, managed to take a lot of money with him, but the Saudi authorities regularly paid him a monthly pension. The man who drowned thousands of people in the blood spent his days swimming in a huge pool in front of the residence, going out to sea on a yacht, and fishing. According to the dictator, when nostalgia overwhelmed him, he took out an accordion and began to sing songs from his youth in the army.

Before going to the Saudis, one of the bloodiest and most shocking leaders of the twentieth century, Idi Amin, became a popular hero of jokes and cartoons in the West. The award-loving Ugandan leader had long jackets custom-made to display the various World War II awards he bought in large quantities from collectors. In addition, he assigned himself pompous titles that were completely untrue: the Ugandan leader suddenly became “Doctor of all Sciences”, “Conqueror of the British Empire” and “King of Scotland”. He had a special weakness for this country. So, the leader ordered the organization of a musical group, which he sent to Scotland so that it could learn to play the bagpipes. Subsequently, musicians in Scottish national costumes often performed at official events.

Trying to emphasize his greatness at every opportunity, at one of the celebrations he sat in a chair that he forced English diplomats to carry. By the way, Great Britain immediately after this recalled its diplomats from the country. Amin proposed moving the headquarters to Uganda, explaining that it was in his country that “the geographical heart of the planet is located.”

Another absurd decision was the declaration of a one-day war on the United States in 1975. He did this in order to proclaim himself the winner a day later. Amin spent money from the treasury, with which the tyrant filled his pockets, on luxury items, in particular, expensive racing cars. Amin called the Fuhrer of the Third Reich Adolf Hitler his “teacher” and idol, to whom he was seriously planning to erect a monument.

After his reign, it became known that Amin loved to feast on human flesh: opponents, dissidents and other dissenters became his dinner. After he fled the country, a huge refrigerator full of body parts was found at his residence.

From shepherd's sons to president

The future bloody tyrant was born into a shepherd's family in a small hut in northwestern Uganda. Idi Amin himself said that his mother was a nurse, but local residents considered her a witch. Initially, the parents were Catholics, but later converted to Islam.

Amin grew up quickly and was superior to his peers with his physical strength, but he could not boast of intelligence and learning abilities. Opponents of the dictator say that he never learned to read and write, and until the end of his life he left a fingerprint instead of a signature.

Photo: Keystone Pictures USA/Diomedia

At the age of 16, he, like his father, converted to Islam and joined the army. At first he was an assistant cook. According to his colleagues, the big man, as big as a bull, could single-handedly carry a daily ration for the entire squad. In the army, he learned to box and play rugby - this was immediately appreciated by the British colonialists: they liked it when Africans adopted their traditions and customs. Gradually, Amin became a corporal in the 4th battalion of the Royal African Rifles. He simply loved to wear a uniform that fit him perfectly, as well as army boots that were polished to a shine.

Career takeoff began in the 50s. When the guerrilla anti-colonial war began in Kenya, Amin was sent to help the local authorities. The fearlessness, bordering on madness, and the cruelty with which he dealt with his opponents delighted the colonialists. Conserving ammunition, he beat the Kenyans to death.

His career advancement progressed by leaps and bounds. Gradually, the famous warrior achieved the patronage of the country's Prime Minister Milton Obote. Amin helped the head of government to overthrow King Mutesa II. Obota rewarded him with a house with security and a Cadillac car. The big man's gratitude was not long in coming. In January 1971, waiting for Obota to leave for Singapore, Idi Amin declared himself the new ruler of the country. This coup was virtually bloodless.

The monstrous terror began later. In the first few months, the number of victims of the new regime exceeded 10 thousand; in total, over 300 thousand Ugandans died during the reign. As Western media write, in order to get rid of the corpses, the dictator ordered them to be fed to crocodiles. People were exterminated on religious and tribal grounds (at that time about 30 tribes lived in the country, endlessly warring with each other). There were rumors that one of the first to be killed was the chief of staff of the army, Suleiman Hussein. Amin demanded that the head of a military man be delivered to his house. A security guard who escaped from the dictator later said that the tyrant liked to take Hussein’s head out of the refrigerator and talk to it.

The new ruler enthusiastically began to remake the state for himself. This especially affected religion. At that time, 50 percent of Christians and only 10 percent of Muslims lived in Uganda, but already in the second year of his reign, Idi Amin broke off relations with Israel and declared the African state part of the Arab world. The Libyan dictator became the tyrant's closest friend. In addition to events related to the inculcation of Islam, a ban was introduced on women wearing miniskirts, trousers and wigs, as well as allowing men to have an unlimited number of wives.

Photo: Keystone Pictures USA/Diomedia

Despite this, Amin was initially viewed favorably in the West. Hoping that investment would flow into the Ugandan economy, Amin called himself a “friend” of Great Britain. The British media hailed him as a "staunch friend of the United Kingdom" and a "long-awaited African leader". In 1971 and 1972, Amin made official visits to London and Edinburgh. At the gala reception at the Queen's, those present were surprised by the rude manners of the Ugandan leader and his tongue-tiedness. However, the dictator’s charming smile helped smooth out the contradictions.

Most of all, the Ugandan leader was afraid of conspiracies. Those who barely came under suspicion were dealt with mercilessly. Random passers-by were sometimes arrested. According to the Ugandans, people could simply go out to buy bread and not return home. One careless glance, gesture or bad mood of the tyrant was enough. He killed many people personally (this is how he dealt with one of his wives). At the same time, the executions carried out by the special services on the orders of Amin were also particularly cruel: people were tortured to death, sometimes buried alive. Sometimes murders were disguised as an accident.

By the end of Amin's reign, Uganda was one of the poorest countries on the planet. 65 percent of GDP was allocated for army expenses. Every day, discontent grew among the population. The country's former education minister Edward Rugumoyo fled Kenya and spoke about what the Ugandan tyrant is like. According to him, Amin could not sit in his office all day and concentrate on a serious matter for more than half an hour. “He doesn’t read anything, doesn’t know how to write, he counts on his fingers,” said the former minister. At the same time, he argued that the head of state cannot participate in cabinet meetings because he does not understand what those present are talking about. “He cannot master a report, because of his illiteracy, he has no idea what is happening in the country, he perceives only what he hears, which means he lives in gossip and rumors, like a woman,” he complained.

During his eight years in power, Idi Amin brought the country to such a state that there was virtually no one to overthrow him. However, the opposition managed to mobilize some forces and create the Uganda National Liberation Front. In addition, many Ugandans fled to neighboring Tanzania to escape what was happening in the country. As a result, Tanzania, suffocating from the flow of refugees, sent troops to Uganda in 1979. Deciding not to tempt fate, Amin packed his things, took his family and flew on a personal plane, first to Libya to visit his friend Gaddafi, then to Saudi Arabia.

In the kingdom he was in a kind of captivity. In the early 80s, he suddenly got ready to go home, deciding to try to regain power. However, in Riyadh, pretty tired of him, they warned that if he left Jeddah, he would not be allowed to return. After thinking a little, the tyrant decided to stay. In 2003, at the age of 78, Idi Amin died in a Riyadh clinic from kidney failure. At home, he was declared a national criminal and was forbidden to be buried in Uganda.