Idi Amin Dada | |
---|---|
Personal life | |
Date and place of birth | May 17, 1928 Koboko, Uganda |
Parents | Andreas Nyabire Assa Aatte |
Claimed religion | Islam |
Education | |
Spouse | |
Children | |
Date & Place of Death | August 16, 2003 Jeddah, Saudi-Arabia |
Dictatorial career | |
Country | Uganda |
Military service | n/a |
Highest rank attained | n/a |
Political beliefs | Islamism |
Political party | |
Date of dictatorship | January 25, 1971 |
Wars started | First Uganda-Tanzania War Second Uganda-Tanzania War |
Number of deaths attributed | 300,000+ |
General Idi Amin Dada (1923 - 2003) (commonly known as Idi Amin) was the Muslim[1] dictator of Uganda for 8 years in the 1970s.
Biography
In the tenure of Milton Obote Amin was the captain, the colonel, the general and later the general staff chief. In 1971 he coup in power and overthrew Obote. In 1970 the British government established gun control laws which aided in Idi Amin's ability to hold power to 1979. He executed mass genocides against his people, especially intelectualls, Christians and supporters of Obote, in order to stay in power and suffered from extreme paranoia and arrogance. His efforts and ideology spread to neighboring countries such as Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. In his tenure he attacked Tanzania two times with the help of Muammar al-Gaddafi. Amin was hostile to Israel. He protected the terrorist organizations Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Revolutionary Cells which hijacked a civilian airplane which was flown to Entebbe. When he was threatened by United Nations forces with the possibility of a trial for crimes against humanity, he fled to the Middle East where he was harbored for 25 years without punishment until the end of his natural life. Under his rule, more than 300,000 oppositionals were killed.
There have been several movies about Idi Amin, including the 1974 film "General Idi Amin Dada [2] and the Academy Award-winning film "The Last King of Scotland".[3]