
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (May 17 1928, Kampala, Uganda – August 16 2003, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) was an commissioned officer and a President of Uganda (1971 - 1979) whose regime was notorious for its brutality. Idi Amin was born in Kampala, of the Kakwa tribe, near Koboko in the West Nile Arua district. Although he was a Kakwa, the only language he ever spoke fluently was Luganda, the tongue of Uganda's largest tribe, the Baganda. He was deserted by his father at an early age and brought up by his mother, who was thought to be a witch doctor, and received little formal education. Amin took tribalism to an extreme by ordering the persecution of Acholi people, Lango, and other tribes. Reports of the torture and murder of 300,000 to 500,000 Ugandans during Amin's presidency have been widespread since the 1970s. ==Early career== Amin joined the King's African Rifles of the United Kingdom colonial army as a private in 1946, rising to the rank of lieutenant after seeing action during the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya. He was considered a skilled, but somewhat overeager, soldier, and developed a reputation for cruelty. He rose through the ranks, reaching sergeant-major before being made an ''effendi'', the highest rank possible for a Black African in the British army. Amin was also an accomplished sportsman. Besides being a champion swimmer he held Uganda's light heavyweight boxing championship from 1951 to 1960. After independence in 1962, Milton Obote, Uganda's first prime minister, rewarded his loyalty by promoting him to captain in 1963 and deputy commander of the army in 1964. In 1965 Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle gold, coffee, and ivory out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A parliamentary investigation demanded by President Frederick Walugembe Mutesa II (also the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, popularly known as ''King Freddie''), put Obote on the defensive; he promoted Amin to general and made him chief-of-staff, had five ministers arrested, suspended the 1962 constitution, and declared himself as the new president. King Freddie was forced into exile in Britain in 1966 where he died in 1969. Amin began recruiting members of his own tribe into the army as well as many Muslims from his West Nile area to the northwest of Uganda near the Sudan border. Relations with Obote began to sour. Obote first responded by putting Amin under house arrest, and when this failed, Amin was given a non-executive position in the army. ==Seizure of power== After hearing that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, he seized power in a coup d'état on January 25, 1971, when Obote was attending a Commonwealth of Nations summit meeting in Singapore. He was assisted by Rwandan exiles, whom Obote had targeted as enemies. Obote stayed in exile, and Amin declared himself the new President. Idi Amin was initially welcomed both within Uganda and by the international community. He gave Mutesa II of Buganda, who had died in exile, a state burial in April 1971, freed many political prisoners, and disbanded the Secret Police, the General Service Unit. He promised to hold elections within months. Many foreign journalists considered him a somewhat comical and eccentricity (behaviour) figure. He was fond of racing cars (of which he owned several), boxing, and Disney cartoons. His light-hearted and often childish public persona hid an inner brutality, however. Shortly after taking power Amin established "killer squads" to hunt down and murder Obote's supporters as well as much of the intelligentsia, whom he distrusted. Military leaders who had not supported the coup were executed, many by beheading. Obote took refuge in Tanzania, from whence he attempted to regain the country through a military invasion from Tanzania in September 1972, without success. Obote supporters within the Ugandan army, mainly from the Acholi and Lango tribes, were also involved in the invasion. Amin retaliated by bombing Tanzanian towns, and purging the army of Acholi and Lango officers. The ethnic violence grew to include the whole of the army, and then Ugandan civilians, Amin becoming more and more paranoid. The Nile Mansions Hotel in Kampala became infamous as Amin's interrogation and torture centre. On August 4, 1972, Amin gave Uganda's 70,000 Asian-born citizens who held British passports 90 days to leave the country, following an alleged dream in which, he claimed, God told him to expel them. Those who remained were deported from the cities to the countryside. The same year he severed diplomatic relations with Israel, and in 1976 with Britain. In 1972, Amin turned to Colonel Muammar Al Qadhafi of Libya and the Soviet Union for support. Amin had strong links to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The Israeli embassy was offered to them as headquarters; and Flight 139, the Air France A-300B Airbus hijacked from Athens on June 27 1976, was invited by Amin to stop at Entebbe International Airport in Entebbe town, 32 km away from Kampala. The hijackers demanded the release of 53 PLO prisoners in return for the 256 hostages, and were assisted by Amin's troops. Amin visited the hostages more than once. On July 3, 1976, Israeli paratroopers attacked the airport and freed all of the hostages but one 75-year-old woman, Dora Bloch, who had been taken to a hospital before the rescue. Uganda's air force was badly crippled as its fighter jets were destroyed in the action (''see also Operation Entebbe''). The success of the operation largely contributed to his downfall, increased resistance and sabotage operations crippled the nation during his final years. Partly on the basis of his "visions" and this behaviour, Idi Amin is often believed to have suffered from syphilis: Deborah Hayden makes the case for this hypothesis in her ''Pox: Genius, Madness and the Mysteries of Syphilis''. As the years went on, Amin became increasingly erratic and outspoken. He had his tunics specially lengthened so that he could wear many World War II medals, including the Military Cross and Victoria Cross. He also granted himself a number of official titles, even extending the original "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" with "Big Daddy" and, bizarrely, "King of Scotland". 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 Kagera, the northern province of Tanzania. 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. ==Exile== 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. 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. On August 17, 2003 David Owen told an interviewer for BBC Radio 4 that while he was the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (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== *Uganda *Uganda under Amin, part of the History of Uganda series. *President of Uganda *Politics of Uganda *Political parties of Uganda ==External links== *[http://www.monitor.co.ug/specialincludes/ugprsd/amin/articles/index.php Biography of Amin] * [http://africanhistory.about.com/library/biographies/blbio-amin.htm Another biography of Amin] *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071544/ Film about Amin/Uganda] 1928 births 2003 deaths Ugandan politicians Field Marshals
------ Can anyone verify his title of "Big Daddy"??? User:Comatose51 22:10, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC) ---- The article [[JanuBeasts and Fishes" and the "Last King of Scotland". -- User:Someone else 00:18 22 Jul 2003 (UTC) :I guess I'll just echo everyone else's thoughts. May pain be brought on him, slowly. ---------- "When they [Asians] refused [to leave], Amin's forces went on a widespread campaign of genocide" - I've taken this out because (a) the expulsion left too few for widespread anything; (b) I know of no evidence to support the charge of genocide against those who remained; and (c) you don't have to throw every allegation you can think of at someone to make a plausible case that they were mad, bad or both. User:Graculus 16:43 22 Jul 2003 (UTC) :Much the same goes for the overall death toll: while 300,000 seems to be commonly offered, figures range from 100,000 to 500,000, with the average (for what it's worth, which isn't a lot) probably nearer 200,000. Of course nobody was really counting, least of all the pundits who merrily throw these figures about. I've relaced "executed" as implying a level of organisation and precision that simply wasn't there. User:195.92.67.71 07:31 23 Jul 2003 (UTC) ---- User:24.65.52.97 removed the following passage: "His dark black skin, routund apperance and ridiculously over-decorated military uniforms made him seem clownish and amusing to much of the world, and to the racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia a clear example that native Africans were incapable of governing themselves." : Should it be put back? User:Den fjättrade ankan 23:10 23 Jul 2003 (UTC) : I put it back. It's accurate. Idi Amin was a moron, and he had dark black skin. The two are not connected, if that is what he fears is being alleged. user:J.J. ::Dark black skin can be expected from a president of Uganda. Do you have evidence that he had particularly dark skin even by Ugandan standards? --User:Wik 00:23, Aug 6, 2003 (UTC) We're not talking about Ugandan standards, if you look at the context of the remark it is made refering to outsider perceptions of Amin. The fact that his skin was so dark was certainly a key part of the western perception of him, and is well illustrated in the caricatures and editorial cartoons of the time. user:J.J. ::Cartoons naturally focus on and amplify a person's most distinguishing features, that doesn't prove much. But wasn't it more his behaviour than his skin colour that made him seem amusing to much of the world? --User:Wik 20:26, Aug 11, 2003 (UTC) You keep focusing on the one word instead of the context. The paragraph in its entirety is relevant and accurate. It's time to stop getting so politically correct and paranoid everytime race is mentioned. user:J.J. It is paragraphs like this one that make Wikipedia look more like a discussion forum than an encyclopedia. Here is what is wrong with it: # We are talking about a man who caused the death of at least a hundred thousand men, women and children. In the face of a human tragedy of such proportions, it is not simply "politically incorrect" to refer to the person responsible for these crimes as "quite charming", it is an insult to the victims of his regime. If you had lost your daughter or your wife to this murderer, what would you think when reading this paragraph? For this reason alone, it is entirely out of place, inappropriate and unprofessional. # "Dark black skin" and "rotund appearance" are stereotypical, utterly racist descriptions, especially when followed up by "made him seem clownish and amusing". A "rotund", "dark black" person automatically becomes "clownish and amusing", according to this sentence. Would you write the same about a US congressman? "Newt Gingrich, whose pale white skin and rotund appearance made him seem clownish and amusing.." # The racism continues in the last paragraph: "a clear example that native Africans were incapable of governing themselves". Because the military ruler of Uganda has dark black skin, is overweight and wears overdecorated uniforms (as many military rules before and after him have done) "native Africans were incapable of governing themselves"? This time the racism is hidden in attribution to other racists, but I doubt that these regimes ever actually argued on that basis. More likely, they pointed to Amin's disastrous policies and his murderous regime as evidence that the white people were needed to keep the "order". JJ, I realize you are a political cartoonist and as such may view other human beings as potential caricatures. This paragraph, however, is unprofessional, false, devoid of meaningful content and utterly inappropriate. That does not mean that there are not aspects of Amin's reception worth writing about. Yes, Amin was portrayed as a clown in western media, and reporters ignored his crimes and instead focused on his eccentricities. Amin was, after all, a longtime ally of the United States, so the tens of thousands slaughtered could be overlooked. But what a charming, amusing guy he was, ha ha!User:Eloquence 02:48, Aug 12, 2003 (UTC) :I think the point and conext of the paragraph continues to be overlooked. Everything that was said in that paragraph is true. At around the time Idi Amin became a prominant figure, there was much mocking and joking about his regime in the west. And like it or not, rightly or wrongly, a great deal of it was racist in tone. People saw photos of this fat little man, with really dark skin, and his crazy uniforms, and they thought it was funny. Many probably thought it was strange to see an African like him "trying" to rule a country. I've read repeatedly that the racist regimes in Southern Africa used his eccentricites as justification for their policies. They said people like Amin proved that Africans were too childish and stupid to rule themselves. It doesn't make me racist to point this out. On the contrary, I am trying to show how an underlying and often patronizing racism was to blame for the easy ride Amin got for many years. :And like it or not, Idi Amin could be a charming fellow, and he was pretty entertaining at times. He would make jokes, and jump into the pool with his clothes on, and drive his sportscar around, play the accordion, and do other crazy stunts to amuse reporters and other observers. People can be charming and evil. To indicate otherwise is foolish, and makes the article into just a flat criticism against Amin, instead of a multi-deminsional profile that focuses on different sides of his personality, and various perceptions thereof. user:J.J. :: This is all very vague and unspecific. Show me citations, and we can talk about including these claims ''in attributed form''. Describing a murderer as "quite charming", without attributing this description, is not neutral, nor is the rest of the paragraph, which goes so far to attribute its claims "to much of the world".User:Eloquence 23:05, Aug 12, 2003 (UTC) :: I fail to understand the basic logic here. If a man is a killer, therefore he can never be charming? This makes no sense. Do all killers have to fit a certain stereotype? Perhaps you should watch the excellent DVD doccumentary ''General Idi Amin Dada'' which shows the many sides of this dictator's personality, and how he interacted with amused reporters. I'm not arguing a freak position here. I'm sure anyone who lived through the time period can back up what I'm saying. user:J.J. ::: No, the logic is not that "a killer can never be charming", but that the claim that a killer is charming needs to be attributed to its adherents because the killer's victims (survivors and family members) would find the claim preposterous.User:Eloquence 10:08, Aug 13, 2003 (UTC) ::::Victim or not, if you find the claim preposterous then you have a poor grasp of human nature. User:GrahamN 02:43, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC) ::: I've got to come down more on User:J.J. side of this dispute. The wording of the paragraph in question could conceivably be tweaked so as to not provoke undue offense from the victims of Idi Amin, but if other governments justified their apathy to the carnage in Uganda in part as a result of Idi Amin's efforts to look buffoonish and harmless, then it seems to me that the man was crazy like a fox. Just look at the stuff that George W. Bush gets away with because popular belief holds that he's too stupid to know better. In any event, I think Newt Gingrich is a poor example of a clownish-looking white man; Sorrell Booke is probably a better example. (Casting directors may know things that User:Eloquence is loath to admit.) Anyway, I support re-inclusion of the paragraph, but preferably rewritten to emphasize that Amin perhaps deliberately cultivated a blundering image for foreign consmption over any particular physical characteristics that may or may not have helped to form that image in the first place. User:Branden 05:47, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC) I did my best to add somewhat of a brief compromise passage, where I mention his goofiness, and eccentric interests, but also how it hid an "inner brutality". user:J.J. ---- User:Greenman: Where do you get C-in-C 1970 from? My sources say 1966, in return for backing Obote against the Kabaka. User:Graculus 11:21 26 Jul 2003 (UTC) Here's one source for the date, though most references don't seem to have dates, so I've got my doubts: [http://archive.mg.co.za/nxt/gateway.dll/PrintEdition/MGP2003/3lv00080/4lv00081/5lv00101.htm] - Mail and Guardian - User:Greenman 12 Aug ---- The CNN news report states "Amin was 80, Ugandan officials said, although other sources had him born in 1925. " So should we put "1923 or 1925"? --User:Jiang 07:36, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) :This really should go without saying, but if he was 80 at his death, it doesn't mean that he was born in 1923. It means there would be a 62.5% probability that he was born in 1923, and a 37.5% probability that he was born in 1922. But the Ugandan officials here are most likely just giving a round figure. His birth date is simply not known. Surely he didn't know it himself. "About 1925" is the best you can say. --User:Wik 23:35, Aug 16, 2003 (UTC) ::Please modify my footnote instead of removing it in its entirety. --User:Jiang :::I added a note about the absence of birth records. I don't think the comment of the Ugandan officials is relevant at all, since they can hardly know more about the matter than Amin himself did. See [http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030816/ZNYT03/308160429]: "Like many African leaders including Mr. Nyerere and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Idi Amin never knew the date of his birth. According to his army documents he was born around 1925 in a remote northwestern region near the borders of Sudan and the Congo." --User:Wik 02:48, Aug 17, 2003 (UTC) ---- Well, now I know why Newt Gingrich looks funny, thanks. [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20030816/ts_nm/uganda_amin_dc Here] is a news article about Amin using the phrase "whimsical savagery", an excellent turn of phrase. I suppose that copyvio makes it ineligible for use in the article. User:StinKerr 23:18, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) == His birthdate, yet again.... == It seems to me that the birthdate issue seems to be going in circles. What is the source for the January 1, 1925 date. I think a safe alternative would be to put up (born. 1924 or 1925). It would cover most of the dates given by commonly available sources. If there is a reliable source for the January 1 date, fine. But otherwise... -- Cimon Avaro on a pogostick :Yes, maybe I shouldn't have added the birthdate. But, I found these pages that indicate his birthdate as January 1 ( we aren't talking about the year but the DATE, right? ): *[http://www.davesdatebook.com/63files/63db0101.htm] *[http://infoman16.tripod.com/a4ideas/birth101.htm] *[http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1 We have it on the January 1st page, too - and it was added long time before my intervention here )] *[http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/discuss/msgReader$98#100] *[http://www.dispatch.co.za/2003/01/01/foreign/EJOLLY.HTM] That's what I found .. User:Webkid 14:40, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC) :::There is a disturbing possibility that the January 1 stems from someones database which contains the ages of prominent people. If there was no known date for updating the number of years in the "age" category, a natural point for triggering the incrementing of age in years would presumably be January 1. I really don't know if that is the case, but it does give me pause. -- User:Cimon avaro 06:09, Aug 19, 2003 (UTC) ::::OK, there's a possibility that he wasn't born on January 1, and that's why I won't go on arguing about this. User:Webkid 07:43, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC) ---- Moved here from Wikipedia:RC patrol: *Idi Amin Deleted sections [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Idi_Amin&diff=0&oldid=2241148 diff] User:SennheiserUser talk:Sennheiser 14:12, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC) == Idi Amin: very black; dark black??? == So Amin was dark, or darker than some Ugandans as is characteristic of many northern Ugandans in comparisson to other Ugandans. What's the issue that is trying to be established here. I do not think there is any relationship between the contrast of one's skin and savagery. Adolf Hitler who killed 5 million Jews, was of a much lighter complexion than many human beings (and Idi Amin). So what is the relationship or point being raised here? Secondly, Is there any such thing as 'dark black'? I am an African(Ugandan) and you may refer to me as black or brown. I am actually dark brown. I also happen to be of a lighter complexion than some Ugandans(and Idi Amin),as is characteristic of Ugandans from western Uganda where I come from. The fact is we all agree that Idi Amin was a savage and probably mad who killed many people, by the standards and ethics of today, however Uganda at the time like many other African countries and former colonies, was coming out of a system similar to the feudalism of 9-15th century Europe in which leaders held absolute power. Would these leaders be seen to be carrying out genocide in their times, since many of them supressed oppositions in ways which were very similar to those of Amin, in terms of how many people they killed? And how was this in any way proportional or relative to the amount of dark pigmentation cells in their skins. Denis Mutabazi(Student) XSHATO@YAHOO.COM == Military ranks == While admittedly a life-long civilian, the following passage doesn't make sense to me: :Amin joined the King's African Rifles of the United Kingdom colonial army as a private in 1946, rising to the rank of lieutenant after seeing action during the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya. He was considered a skilled, but somewhat overeager, soldier, and developed a reputation for cruelty. He rose through the ranks, reaching sergeant-major before being made an ''effendi'', the highest rank possible for a Black African in the British army. A lieutenant is a Commissioned officer, & thus of higher rank than a sergeant-major (an NCO). Thus it appears to me that Idi Amin went from private to an officer rank, then was demoted to sergeant, then was promoted to ''effendi'' (some kind of sub-lieutenant grade officer?). But there is no explanation for this demotion in the article (his military career in the KAR appears to be exemplary), so did someone make a mistake here, & Idi Amin actually became a corporal & not a lieutenant? Or was he a receive a field promotion to lieutentant due to heavy officer casualties? -- User:Llywrch 04:10, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC) == His title? == I believe his title is ''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.'' Shall we include this? User:Ingoolemo User_talk:Ingoolemo 05:29, 2005 Apr 26 (UTC) Yes. User:Wikiwizzy…User talk:Wikiwizzy 13:37, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)
"Idi Amin Dada Oumee (1920s - August 16, 2003) was the military dictator of Uganda from January 25, 1971, to April 13, 1979." User:Geoffrey stole this account name. If you actually have the misfortune to have the same name as a murderer of hundred thousands of Ugandans, and don't want to take a pseudonym out of prudence, leave me an anonymous message at my User talk:Geoffrey and I'll give you the password.
"Idi Amin Dada Oumee (1920s - August 16, 2003) was the military dictator of Uganda from January 25, 1971, to April 13, 1979." User:Geoffrey stole this account name. If you actually have the misfortune to have the same name as a murderer of hundred thousands of Ugandans, and don't want to take a pseudonym out of prudence, leave me an anonymous message at my User talk:Geoffrey (not this page! I'll never notice talk-messages here) and I'll give you the password.
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Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada Oumee (May 17 1928, Kampala, Uganda – August 16 2003, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) was an commissioned officer and a President of Uganda (1971 - 1979) whose regime was notorious for its brutality. Idi Amin was born in Kampala, of the Kakwa tribe, near Koboko in the West Nile Arua district. Although he was a Kakwa, the only language he ever spoke fluently was Luganda, the tongue of Uganda's largest tribe, the Baganda. He was deserted by his father at an early age and brought up by his mother, who was thought to be a witch doctor, and received little formal education. Amin took tribalism to an extreme by ordering the persecution of Acholi people, Lango, and other tribes. Reports of the torture and murder of 300,000 to 500,000 Ugandans during Amin's presidency have been widespread since the 1970s. ==Early career== Amin joined the King's African Rifles of the United Kingdom colonial army as a private in 1946, rising to the rank of lieutenant after seeing action during the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya. He was considered a skilled, but somewhat overeager, soldier, and developed a reputation for cruelty. He rose through the ranks, reaching sergeant-major before being made an ''effendi'', the highest rank possible for a Black African in the British army. Amin was also an accomplished sportsman. Besides being a champion swimmer he held Uganda's light heavyweight boxing championship from 1951 to 1960. After independence in 1962, Milton Obote, Uganda's first prime minister, rewarded his loyalty by promoting him to captain in 1963 and deputy commander of the army in 1964. In 1965 Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle gold, coffee, and ivory out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A parliamentary investigation demanded by President Frederick Walugembe Mutesa II (also the Kabaka (King) of Buganda, popularly known as ''King Freddie''), put Obote on the defensive; he promoted Amin to general and made him chief-of-staff, had five ministers arrested, suspended the 1962 constitution, and declared himself as the new president. King Freddie was forced into exile in Britain in 1966 where he died in 1969. Amin began recruiting members of his own tribe into the army as well as many Muslims from his West Nile area to the northwest of Uganda near the Sudan border. Relations with Obote began to sour. Obote first responded by putting Amin under house arrest, and when this failed, Amin was given a non-executive position in the army. ==Seizure of power== After hearing that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, he seized power in a coup d'état on January 25, 1971, when Obote was attending a Commonwealth of Nations summit meeting in Singapore. He was assisted by Rwandan exiles, whom Obote had targeted as enemies. Obote stayed in exile, and Amin declared himself the new President. Idi Amin was initially welcomed both within Uganda and by the international community. He gave Mutesa II of Buganda, who had died in exile, a state burial in April 1971, freed many political prisoners, and disbanded the Secret Police, the General Service Unit. He promised to hold elections within months. Many foreign journalists considered him a somewhat comical and eccentricity (behaviour) figure. He was fond of racing cars (of which he owned several), boxing, and Disney cartoons. His light-hearted and often childish public persona hid an inner brutality, however. Shortly after taking power Amin established "killer squads" to hunt down and murder Obote's supporters as well as much of the intelligentsia, whom he distrusted. Military leaders who had not supported the coup were executed, many by beheading. Obote took refuge in Tanzania, from whence he attempted to regain the country through a military invasion from Tanzania in September 1972, without success. Obote supporters within the Ugandan army, mainly from the Acholi and Lango tribes, were also involved in the invasion. Amin retaliated by bombing Tanzanian towns, and purging the army of Acholi and Lango officers. The ethnic violence grew to include the whole of the army, and then Ugandan civilians, Amin becoming more and more paranoid. The Nile Mansions Hotel in Kampala became infamous as Amin's interrogation and torture centre. On August 4, 1972, Amin gave Uganda's 70,000 Asian-born citizens who held British passports 90 days to leave the country, following an alleged dream in which, he claimed, God told him to expel them. Those who remained were deported from the cities to the countryside. The same year he severed diplomatic relations with Israel, and in 1976 with Britain. In 1972, Amin turned to Colonel Muammar Al Qadhafi of Libya and the Soviet Union for support. Amin had strong links to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The Israeli embassy was offered to them as headquarters; and Flight 139, the Air France A-300B Airbus hijacked from Athens on June 27 1976, was invited by Amin to stop at Entebbe International Airport in Entebbe town, 32 km away from Kampala. The hijackers demanded the release of 53 PLO prisoners in return for the 256 hostages, and were assisted by Amin's troops. Amin visited the hostages more than once. On July 3, 1976, Israeli paratroopers attacked the airport and freed all of the hostages but one 75-year-old woman, Dora Bloch, who had been taken to a hospital before the rescue. Uganda's air force was badly crippled as its fighter jets were destroyed in the action (''see also Operation Entebbe''). The success of the operation largely contributed to his downfall, increased resistance and sabotage operations crippled the nation during his final years. Partly on the basis of his "visions" and this behaviour, Idi Amin is often believed to have suffered from syphilis: Deborah Hayden makes the case for this hypothesis in her ''Pox: Genius, Madness and the Mysteries of Syphilis''. As the years went on, Amin became increasingly erratic and outspoken. He had his tunics specially lengthened so that he could wear many World War II medals, including the Military Cross and Victoria Cross. He also granted himself a number of official titles, even extending the original "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" with "Big Daddy" and, bizarrely, "King of Scotland". 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 Kagera, the northern province of Tanzania. 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. ==Exile== 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. 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. On August 17, 2003 David Owen told an interviewer for BBC Radio 4 that while he was the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (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== *Uganda *Uganda under Amin, part of the History of Uganda series. *President of Uganda *Politics of Uganda *Political parties of Uganda ==External links== *[http://www.monitor.co.ug/specialincludes/ugprsd/amin/articles/index.php Biography of Amin] * [http://africanhistory.about.com/library/biographies/blbio-amin.htm Another biography of Amin] *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071544/ Film about Amin/Uganda] 1928 births 2003 deaths Ugandan politicians Field Marshals
Idi Amin
------ Can anyone verify his title of "Big Daddy"??? User:Comatose51 22:10, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC) ---- The article [[JanuBeasts and Fishes" and the "Last King of Scotland". -- User:Someone else 00:18 22 Jul 2003 (UTC) :I guess I'll just echo everyone else's thoughts. May pain be brought on him, slowly. ---------- "When they [Asians] refused [to leave], Amin's forces went on a widespread campaign of genocide" - I've taken this out because (a) the expulsion left too few for widespread anything; (b) I know of no evidence to support the charge of genocide against those who remained; and (c) you don't have to throw every allegation you can think of at someone to make a plausible case that they were mad, bad or both. User:Graculus 16:43 22 Jul 2003 (UTC) :Much the same goes for the overall death toll: while 300,000 seems to be commonly offered, figures range from 100,000 to 500,000, with the average (for what it's worth, which isn't a lot) probably nearer 200,000. Of course nobody was really counting, least of all the pundits who merrily throw these figures about. I've relaced "executed" as implying a level of organisation and precision that simply wasn't there. User:195.92.67.71 07:31 23 Jul 2003 (UTC) ---- User:24.65.52.97 removed the following passage: "His dark black skin, routund apperance and ridiculously over-decorated military uniforms made him seem clownish and amusing to much of the world, and to the racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia a clear example that native Africans were incapable of governing themselves." : Should it be put back? User:Den fjättrade ankan 23:10 23 Jul 2003 (UTC) : I put it back. It's accurate. Idi Amin was a moron, and he had dark black skin. The two are not connected, if that is what he fears is being alleged. user:J.J. ::Dark black skin can be expected from a president of Uganda. Do you have evidence that he had particularly dark skin even by Ugandan standards? --User:Wik 00:23, Aug 6, 2003 (UTC) We're not talking about Ugandan standards, if you look at the context of the remark it is made refering to outsider perceptions of Amin. The fact that his skin was so dark was certainly a key part of the western perception of him, and is well illustrated in the caricatures and editorial cartoons of the time. user:J.J. ::Cartoons naturally focus on and amplify a person's most distinguishing features, that doesn't prove much. But wasn't it more his behaviour than his skin colour that made him seem amusing to much of the world? --User:Wik 20:26, Aug 11, 2003 (UTC) You keep focusing on the one word instead of the context. The paragraph in its entirety is relevant and accurate. It's time to stop getting so politically correct and paranoid everytime race is mentioned. user:J.J. It is paragraphs like this one that make Wikipedia look more like a discussion forum than an encyclopedia. Here is what is wrong with it: # We are talking about a man who caused the death of at least a hundred thousand men, women and children. In the face of a human tragedy of such proportions, it is not simply "politically incorrect" to refer to the person responsible for these crimes as "quite charming", it is an insult to the victims of his regime. If you had lost your daughter or your wife to this murderer, what would you think when reading this paragraph? For this reason alone, it is entirely out of place, inappropriate and unprofessional. # "Dark black skin" and "rotund appearance" are stereotypical, utterly racist descriptions, especially when followed up by "made him seem clownish and amusing". A "rotund", "dark black" person automatically becomes "clownish and amusing", according to this sentence. Would you write the same about a US congressman? "Newt Gingrich, whose pale white skin and rotund appearance made him seem clownish and amusing.." # The racism continues in the last paragraph: "a clear example that native Africans were incapable of governing themselves". Because the military ruler of Uganda has dark black skin, is overweight and wears overdecorated uniforms (as many military rules before and after him have done) "native Africans were incapable of governing themselves"? This time the racism is hidden in attribution to other racists, but I doubt that these regimes ever actually argued on that basis. More likely, they pointed to Amin's disastrous policies and his murderous regime as evidence that the white people were needed to keep the "order". JJ, I realize you are a political cartoonist and as such may view other human beings as potential caricatures. This paragraph, however, is unprofessional, false, devoid of meaningful content and utterly inappropriate. That does not mean that there are not aspects of Amin's reception worth writing about. Yes, Amin was portrayed as a clown in western media, and reporters ignored his crimes and instead focused on his eccentricities. Amin was, after all, a longtime ally of the United States, so the tens of thousands slaughtered could be overlooked. But what a charming, amusing guy he was, ha ha!User:Eloquence 02:48, Aug 12, 2003 (UTC) :I think the point and conext of the paragraph continues to be overlooked. Everything that was said in that paragraph is true. At around the time Idi Amin became a prominant figure, there was much mocking and joking about his regime in the west. And like it or not, rightly or wrongly, a great deal of it was racist in tone. People saw photos of this fat little man, with really dark skin, and his crazy uniforms, and they thought it was funny. Many probably thought it was strange to see an African like him "trying" to rule a country. I've read repeatedly that the racist regimes in Southern Africa used his eccentricites as justification for their policies. They said people like Amin proved that Africans were too childish and stupid to rule themselves. It doesn't make me racist to point this out. On the contrary, I am trying to show how an underlying and often patronizing racism was to blame for the easy ride Amin got for many years. :And like it or not, Idi Amin could be a charming fellow, and he was pretty entertaining at times. He would make jokes, and jump into the pool with his clothes on, and drive his sportscar around, play the accordion, and do other crazy stunts to amuse reporters and other observers. People can be charming and evil. To indicate otherwise is foolish, and makes the article into just a flat criticism against Amin, instead of a multi-deminsional profile that focuses on different sides of his personality, and various perceptions thereof. user:J.J. :: This is all very vague and unspecific. Show me citations, and we can talk about including these claims ''in attributed form''. Describing a murderer as "quite charming", without attributing this description, is not neutral, nor is the rest of the paragraph, which goes so far to attribute its claims "to much of the world".User:Eloquence 23:05, Aug 12, 2003 (UTC) :: I fail to understand the basic logic here. If a man is a killer, therefore he can never be charming? This makes no sense. Do all killers have to fit a certain stereotype? Perhaps you should watch the excellent DVD doccumentary ''General Idi Amin Dada'' which shows the many sides of this dictator's personality, and how he interacted with amused reporters. I'm not arguing a freak position here. I'm sure anyone who lived through the time period can back up what I'm saying. user:J.J. ::: No, the logic is not that "a killer can never be charming", but that the claim that a killer is charming needs to be attributed to its adherents because the killer's victims (survivors and family members) would find the claim preposterous.User:Eloquence 10:08, Aug 13, 2003 (UTC) ::::Victim or not, if you find the claim preposterous then you have a poor grasp of human nature. User:GrahamN 02:43, 17 Aug 2003 (UTC) ::: I've got to come down more on User:J.J. side of this dispute. The wording of the paragraph in question could conceivably be tweaked so as to not provoke undue offense from the victims of Idi Amin, but if other governments justified their apathy to the carnage in Uganda in part as a result of Idi Amin's efforts to look buffoonish and harmless, then it seems to me that the man was crazy like a fox. Just look at the stuff that George W. Bush gets away with because popular belief holds that he's too stupid to know better. In any event, I think Newt Gingrich is a poor example of a clownish-looking white man; Sorrell Booke is probably a better example. (Casting directors may know things that User:Eloquence is loath to admit.) Anyway, I support re-inclusion of the paragraph, but preferably rewritten to emphasize that Amin perhaps deliberately cultivated a blundering image for foreign consmption over any particular physical characteristics that may or may not have helped to form that image in the first place. User:Branden 05:47, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC) I did my best to add somewhat of a brief compromise passage, where I mention his goofiness, and eccentric interests, but also how it hid an "inner brutality". user:J.J. ---- User:Greenman: Where do you get C-in-C 1970 from? My sources say 1966, in return for backing Obote against the Kabaka. User:Graculus 11:21 26 Jul 2003 (UTC) Here's one source for the date, though most references don't seem to have dates, so I've got my doubts: [http://archive.mg.co.za/nxt/gateway.dll/PrintEdition/MGP2003/3lv00080/4lv00081/5lv00101.htm] - Mail and Guardian - User:Greenman 12 Aug ---- The CNN news report states "Amin was 80, Ugandan officials said, although other sources had him born in 1925. " So should we put "1923 or 1925"? --User:Jiang 07:36, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) :This really should go without saying, but if he was 80 at his death, it doesn't mean that he was born in 1923. It means there would be a 62.5% probability that he was born in 1923, and a 37.5% probability that he was born in 1922. But the Ugandan officials here are most likely just giving a round figure. His birth date is simply not known. Surely he didn't know it himself. "About 1925" is the best you can say. --User:Wik 23:35, Aug 16, 2003 (UTC) ::Please modify my footnote instead of removing it in its entirety. --User:Jiang :::I added a note about the absence of birth records. I don't think the comment of the Ugandan officials is relevant at all, since they can hardly know more about the matter than Amin himself did. See [http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030816/ZNYT03/308160429]: "Like many African leaders including Mr. Nyerere and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Idi Amin never knew the date of his birth. According to his army documents he was born around 1925 in a remote northwestern region near the borders of Sudan and the Congo." --User:Wik 02:48, Aug 17, 2003 (UTC) ---- Well, now I know why Newt Gingrich looks funny, thanks. [http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20030816/ts_nm/uganda_amin_dc Here] is a news article about Amin using the phrase "whimsical savagery", an excellent turn of phrase. I suppose that copyvio makes it ineligible for use in the article. User:StinKerr 23:18, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC) == His birthdate, yet again.... == It seems to me that the birthdate issue seems to be going in circles. What is the source for the January 1, 1925 date. I think a safe alternative would be to put up (born. 1924 or 1925). It would cover most of the dates given by commonly available sources. If there is a reliable source for the January 1 date, fine. But otherwise... -- Cimon Avaro on a pogostick :Yes, maybe I shouldn't have added the birthdate. But, I found these pages that indicate his birthdate as January 1 ( we aren't talking about the year but the DATE, right? ): *[http://www.davesdatebook.com/63files/63db0101.htm] *[http://infoman16.tripod.com/a4ideas/birth101.htm] *[http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_1 We have it on the January 1st page, too - and it was added long time before my intervention here )] *[http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/discuss/msgReader$98#100] *[http://www.dispatch.co.za/2003/01/01/foreign/EJOLLY.HTM] That's what I found .. User:Webkid 14:40, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC) :::There is a disturbing possibility that the January 1 stems from someones database which contains the ages of prominent people. If there was no known date for updating the number of years in the "age" category, a natural point for triggering the incrementing of age in years would presumably be January 1. I really don't know if that is the case, but it does give me pause. -- User:Cimon avaro 06:09, Aug 19, 2003 (UTC) ::::OK, there's a possibility that he wasn't born on January 1, and that's why I won't go on arguing about this. User:Webkid 07:43, 19 Aug 2003 (UTC) ---- Moved here from Wikipedia:RC patrol: *Idi Amin Deleted sections [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Idi_Amin&diff=0&oldid=2241148 diff] User:SennheiserUser talk:Sennheiser 14:12, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC) == Idi Amin: very black; dark black??? == So Amin was dark, or darker than some Ugandans as is characteristic of many northern Ugandans in comparisson to other Ugandans. What's the issue that is trying to be established here. I do not think there is any relationship between the contrast of one's skin and savagery. Adolf Hitler who killed 5 million Jews, was of a much lighter complexion than many human beings (and Idi Amin). So what is the relationship or point being raised here? Secondly, Is there any such thing as 'dark black'? I am an African(Ugandan) and you may refer to me as black or brown. I am actually dark brown. I also happen to be of a lighter complexion than some Ugandans(and Idi Amin),as is characteristic of Ugandans from western Uganda where I come from. The fact is we all agree that Idi Amin was a savage and probably mad who killed many people, by the standards and ethics of today, however Uganda at the time like many other African countries and former colonies, was coming out of a system similar to the feudalism of 9-15th century Europe in which leaders held absolute power. Would these leaders be seen to be carrying out genocide in their times, since many of them supressed oppositions in ways which were very similar to those of Amin, in terms of how many people they killed? And how was this in any way proportional or relative to the amount of dark pigmentation cells in their skins. Denis Mutabazi(Student) XSHATO@YAHOO.COM == Military ranks == While admittedly a life-long civilian, the following passage doesn't make sense to me: :Amin joined the King's African Rifles of the United Kingdom colonial army as a private in 1946, rising to the rank of lieutenant after seeing action during the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya. He was considered a skilled, but somewhat overeager, soldier, and developed a reputation for cruelty. He rose through the ranks, reaching sergeant-major before being made an ''effendi'', the highest rank possible for a Black African in the British army. A lieutenant is a Commissioned officer, & thus of higher rank than a sergeant-major (an NCO). Thus it appears to me that Idi Amin went from private to an officer rank, then was demoted to sergeant, then was promoted to ''effendi'' (some kind of sub-lieutenant grade officer?). But there is no explanation for this demotion in the article (his military career in the KAR appears to be exemplary), so did someone make a mistake here, & Idi Amin actually became a corporal & not a lieutenant? Or was he a receive a field promotion to lieutentant due to heavy officer casualties? -- User:Llywrch 04:10, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC) == His title? == I believe his title is ''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.'' Shall we include this? User:Ingoolemo User_talk:Ingoolemo 05:29, 2005 Apr 26 (UTC) Yes. User:Wikiwizzy…User talk:Wikiwizzy 13:37, Apr 26, 2005 (UTC)
Idi Amin
"Idi Amin Dada Oumee (1920s - August 16, 2003) was the military dictator of Uganda from January 25, 1971, to April 13, 1979." User:Geoffrey stole this account name. If you actually have the misfortune to have the same name as a murderer of hundred thousands of Ugandans, and don't want to take a pseudonym out of prudence, leave me an anonymous message at my User talk:Geoffrey and I'll give you the password.
Idi Amin
"Idi Amin Dada Oumee (1920s - August 16, 2003) was the military dictator of Uganda from January 25, 1971, to April 13, 1979." User:Geoffrey stole this account name. If you actually have the misfortune to have the same name as a murderer of hundred thousands of Ugandans, and don't want to take a pseudonym out of prudence, leave me an anonymous message at my User talk:Geoffrey (not this page! I'll never notice talk-messages here) and I'll give you the password.
Idi amin
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