WHAT’S THE STORY?
IT was 50 years ago today that Idi Amin seized control of Uganda, the landlocked country in East Africa which was ruled as a protectorate by the UK from 1894 to 1962 when it became independent.
Milton Obote oversaw the transformation of Uganda into a Republic and became its first prime minister and then president in 1966 when he suspended the constitution and ousted the sitting president, Kabaka (King) Edward Mutesa II.
President Obote acted in 1966 because he and a military associate were suspected by Ugandan parliamentarians of being involved in a gold-smuggling plot.
That associate was the deputy commander of the Ugandan armed forces, Major Idi Amin, who led the attack on Kabaka Mutesa’s palace and forced him into exile in Britain.
Amin was promoted to Colonel and made commander of all the armed forces by President Obote, who now ruled over a one-party state that was soon riddled with corruption and beset by tribal faction fighting.
HOW DID THE COUP HAPPEN?
AMIN built up his own personal retinue within the army, recruiting soldiers from the West Nile region against Obote’s wishes. Amin also supported the rebellion in neighbouring southern Sudan and may have encouraged an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Obote in 1969.
Finally sick of Amin, in October 1970, Obote declared himself commander of the armed forces, but allowed Amin to stay as commander of the army. Big mistake – Amin immediately started to plan his coup d’etat, and when Obote went to a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore, Amin took action on January 25, 1971.
With the support of most members of the Ugandan army, Amin’s troops launched attacks on officers and soldiers loyal to Obote, seized the Army’s artillery and occupied major buildings in the capital Kampala as well as closing the international airport at Entebbe to prevent Obote’s return.
By 4.30pm, it was announced on radio that Colonel Amin’s coup had been successful and that he was now in charge of military rule of Uganda. Most, but not all, Ugandans cheered.
Amin went on radio to say: “My mission is to lead the country out of a bad situation of corruption, depression and slavery. After I rid the country of these vices, I will then organise and supervise a general election of a genuinely democratic civilian government.”
He didn’t.
WASN’T HE TRAINED BY THE BRITISH?
AMIN was born in Kampala to a father who soon abandoned the family. His exact date of birth is unknown, and could have been anywhere between 1924 and 1928.
He joined the King’s African Rifles (KAR) as a cook in 1946, but with his powerful build – he was 6ft 4ins and apparently a good rugby forward – plus a basic grasp of leadership taught by the British Colonial Army, he rose through the ranks and was one of the first two black Ugandans to be commissioned as a lieutenant in the KAR. Promoted to captain in the newly independent Uganda, he was well placed to rise along with Obote.
WAS HE NOT A FIGURE OF FUN?
TO some he was, especially when he made his many bombastic announcements such as declaring himself: “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.”
He never won the DSO and MC, and the VC was his own medal the Victorious Cross.
He once said: “I myself consider myself the most powerful figure in the world.” And he really did claim to be the uncrowned king of Scotland, largely because of his love for pipe bands.
HOW LONG DID HE RULE UGANDA?
ALMOST from the start Amin became a brutal despot, killing his military and political opponents by the tens of thousands. He once summed up his tyrannical rule: “There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.”
Increasingly paranoid, not least because of the eight failed coups against him, he ruined his own country’s economy, particularly by expelling 80,000 Ugandan Asians, many of whom came to Britain. He is reported to have personally tortured his enemies, raped hundreds of women and even practised cannibalism.
Amin was overthrown in April 1979 and died in exile in Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2003.
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