WikipediaExtracts:Idi Amin
Extracted from Wikipedia --
Awon'go Idi Amin Dada Oumee (30 May 1928 – 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who seized and held power as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until his overthrow in 1979. In 1971, he overthrew president Milton Obote, subsequently ruling as a dictator. He was ousted from power in 1979 after launching an unsuccessful war on Tanzania, living in exile in Saudi Arabia for the rest of his life. His eight years in power are widely reputed as one of history's most notorious and brutal dictatorships.
Amin was born to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles, part of the British Colonial Army, as a cook. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels and then the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya. Uganda gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962, and Amin remained in the army, rising to the position of deputy army commander in 1964 and being appointed commander two years later. He became aware that Ugandan president Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, so he overthrew Obote in 1971 and declared himself president.
During his years in power, Amin shifted from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable support from Israel to being backed by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. In 1972, Amin expelled Asians, a majority of whom were Indian-Ugandans, leading India to sever diplomatic relations with his regime. In 1975, Amin assumed chairmanship of the Organisation of African Unity, an intergovernmental organization designed to promote solidarity among African states (an annually rotating role). Uganda was a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1977 to 1979. The United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Uganda in 1977, and Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title, for "Conqueror of the British Empire".
During the late 1970s there was increased unrest in Uganda, prompted by Amin's persecution of political dissidents and certain ethnic groups and also by the country's very poor international standing, a result of Amin's support for the 1976 hijacking that led to Israel's Operation Entebbe. He then attempted to annex Tanzania's Kagera Region in 1978. Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere ordered his troops to invade Uganda in response. Tanzanian Army and rebel forces successfully captured Kampala in 1979 and ousted Amin from power. Amin went into exile, first in Libya, then Iraq, and finally in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death in 2003.
Amin's rule was characterized by rampant human rights abuses including political repression and extrajudicial killings as well as nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. International observers and human rights groups estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 people were killed under his regime. His brutality and atrocities towards Ugandans has given him the nickname "The Butcher of Uganda".
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