Idi Amin and his personal physician. Go Amin

The late Ugandan ogre, Idi Amin, loved titles and awards. Having started his service in the English colonial army as a cook's assistant, he made a dizzying career. Amin belonged to the small Islamic tribe “Kakwa” (in Uganda 70% Christians, 15% Muslims) and during his reign he thoroughly “cleansed” the state of Christians.

Amina Awards

He approached his collection very responsibly. He did not recognize nonsense orders and medals. Moreover, he demanded that all his orders be completely unique. For example, the badge of the Knight of the Order of the Victoria Cross, which he received from the hands of the British Queen, was made to a special order. The heraldic lion, usual for the order's badge, was replaced by a portrait of Amin himself.
But Amin bought most of his medals (these were medals from the Second World War) and awarded them to himself. He had to order long uniform shirts to hang all his stuff. And these shirts were often torn.
Above all his awards, Amin proudly wore “wings” - the badge of an Israeli paratrooper. Which he really deserved: Amin completed courses in Israel with honors when he was still at the rank of major.

In addition to medals, Idi Amin collected titles

His full title consisted of 53 words (in the English version): “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal, Haji, Doctor, Idi Amin Dada, Knight of the Victoria Cross, Order of Merit, Military Cross, Master of All Beasts of the earth and all the fish of the sea, the last king of Scotland, the winner of the British Empire in Africa in general, and in Uganda in particular, professor of geography, rector of Makerere University."
The title was 19 words longer than the title of the British Queen, which the field marshal was especially proud of. The omission of even one word in Amin's title could cost a Ugandan citizen his head. During his reign, about 500,000 people were killed in Uganda (then population 12 million). - the corpses were thrown into the Nile and fed to crocodiles.
He was in awe of whites in his youth and, having seized power, humiliated them as best he could.

Amin had a unique sense of humor.

Here are some of his jokes.

“He is a coward and an old prostitute. But I love him and would even marry him if he were a woman, despite his gray hair” - about Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere (whose army eventually overthrew Amin).

“I want your heart, I want to eat your children” - to his minister, before dinner. (Amin kept the heads of his enemies in the refrigerator and liked to address them with speeches during meals).

From a speech at the UN: “In every country there are people who must die. This is the sacrifice that every nation must make on the altar of law and order.”

“I consider myself the most influential politician in the world” - from a speech after being elected Chairman of the Association of African States.

Upon learning of President Nixon's Watergate problems, Amin sent him this telex: "My brother, President! When a leader gets into trouble with other politicians, you should just kill them. That's what you should do. I know it seems a little cruel, but trust me. “That’s how we conduct our business here and it’s going well.”

"The Arabs will inevitably defeat the Jews in Palestine. It's only a matter of time. So Golda Meir should pack her underpants as soon as possible and buy a ticket to New York or Washington."

"It is difficult to buy good shoes in size 47 in Uganda. Where does Your Majesty buy shoes for her husband?" - Queen Elizabeth, during a personal audience.

“Women cannot make political decisions on their own. If she needs a real man, she can come to Uganda” - advice to Queen Elizabeth regarding England's severance of diplomatic relations with Uganda.

“Please send me your 25-year-old underpants as a souvenir” - to Queen Elizabeth on the 25th anniversary of her coronation (and the end of British aid to Uganda).

Uganda is a country located in East Africa. In the south it is washed by Lake Victoria. It borders with countries such as South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya. The population is about 35 million people. The capital is Kampala with a population of one and a half million people. This country gained independence from Great Britain on October 9, 1962.

It was on these African lands that dictator Idi Amin (1928-2003) emerged. He ruled Uganda from 1971 to 1979 and went down in history as a pathologically cruel person, burdened with cannibalism. This man's appearance was quite colorful. With a height of 192 cm, he weighed 110 kg, that is, he looked like a real hero. He was actively involved in sports (boxing, rugby) and even held the title of national champion among heavyweight boxers for several years.

At the same time, Amin did not even receive a primary education, read poorly and in his youth worked as a small seller. He began his career in the colonial British army, where he enlisted in 1946. He served in the Royal African Fusiliers, which fought in Somalia against the rebels.

The future dictator of Uganda showed himself to be a brave, cruel and cold-blooded soldier. The commanders appreciated these qualities, and in 1948 the young promising soldier was awarded the rank of corporal, and in 1952 the rank of sergeant. In 1953, he was awarded the rank of effendi, which was the ceiling in the career of a black man serving in the British army. And yet, Idi Amin’s achievements in the fight against the rebels were so outstanding that in 1961 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant.

In 1962, Uganda gained independence, and the young lieutenant became a captain, and in 1963, a major in the Ugandan army. At the same time, he became the right hand of the country's first prime minister, Milton Obote. He gives Amin the position of deputy army commander. This couple, once in power, begins to smuggle gold from the Congo, which displeases the president and at the same time the king of Uganda, Edward Mutesa II.

The country's parliament begins an investigation against Obote, but he, relying on his deputy and the army subordinate to him, dissolves the parliament. After this, he abolishes the constitution, arrests the cabinet of ministers, and in March 1966 proclaims himself president. Mutes II flees the country to London, where he dies in 1969.

After the coup, Amin became commander-in-chief of the Ugandan armed forces, and in 1968 he was awarded the rank of general. Being a Muslim himself, he begins to recruit fellow Muslims into the army who are loyal to him. Milton Obote does not like all this in any way, and the president assumes the title of commander in chief, thereby lowering the status of his faithful assistant and like-minded person. And then the latter, relying on loyal troops, carried out a coup on January 25, 1971. As a result of this, Obote is overthrown and accused of all mortal sins.

Having come to power, Idi Amin declares himself president and supreme commander of the Ugandan armed forces. He disbands the secret police and releases political prisoners from prison. He is warmly welcomed in Great Britain and Libya. However, the euphoria does not last long. Total terror begins very quickly in the country.

Death squads are created, the first victims of which are officers who did not support Amin during the coup. They are mercilessly destroyed, and the number of killed reaches 10 thousand people. But this was only the first sign. Subsequently, mass executions became commonplace. All those dissatisfied with the regime were killed, and their bodies were thrown into the water to be eaten by crocodiles. Those corpses that washed ashore bore traces of terrible violence.

The intelligentsia especially suffered: they were slaughtered mercilessly. A security service was organized that reported directly to the dictator. The responsibilities of this organization included the fight against the opposition and total surveillance of the population. At the same time, the economy collapsed and the country went bankrupt. The standard of living of the population dropped to record lows, and the dictator basked in luxury.

All entrepreneurs of Asian origin were expelled from the country. Their property was confiscated and transferred to the personal use of Ugandan army officers. As a result, the country's exports fell to almost zero. Terror began against Christians, and there were more of them living in the country than Muslims. At the same time, Amin told foreign journalists that there were no prisons in the country, and the population was thriving.

Idi Amin with his son and British diplomat

By the end of the dictator's rule, Uganda had become one of the poorest countries in the world. Up to 65% of GDP was spent on the army. Agriculture and industry fell into complete decline. Businesses were looted, and railroads and highways were gradually and steadily destroyed.

Idi Amin himself turned out to be an extremely vain man. He was partial to titles and awards. They even sewed him a special long jacket so that he could fit all the orders and medals that he awarded himself. The dictator gave himself the titles: “Doctor of all Sciences”, “Conqueror of Britain” and “King of Scotland”.

In 1975, the dictator declared war on the United States. It lasted one day. The leader of the African state declared himself the winner and gave the order to stop hostilities, which had not even begun. The head of Uganda loved Hitler very much, considered him a great man and even wanted to erect a monument to him.

Amin was a real cannibal and ate human flesh. When he fled the country, frozen pieces of human meat were found in the freezer of his refrigerator. The dictator constantly feasted on human flesh, eating his political opponents and people who disagreed with the political regime.

In Uganda, more than 300 thousand people were killed during the bloody dictatorship. The entire population was converted to the Muslim faith. Lawlessness and poverty became commonplace in cities and villages. All this provoked a wave of resistance. It began with the war between Uganda and Tanzania in October 1978.

Milton Obote, deprived of power, settled in Tanzania. He was given political asylum, and this was the main reason for the hostilities. The Ugandan army launched an offensive, but the Tanzanian army came out to meet it. It consisted mainly of people who had been expelled or fled from Uganda. They were joined by part of the Ugandan army. It proclaimed itself the "Uganda National Liberation Army".

Still from the film “The Last King of Scotland”

These forces drove Idi Amin's army out of Tanzania and launched an offensive into Uganda with the full support of the local population. The dictatorial regime began to collapse before our eyes. In the first half of April 1979, Amin fled his capital to Libya. Then, fleeing a military tribunal, he moved to Saudi Arabia in December 1979.

There he settled down and even tried to regain his lost power at first. But no one wanted to get involved with such an odious person, declared a national criminal in Uganda. Idi Amin died on August 16, 2003 at the age of 75. He was buried in Saudi Arabia in the city of Jeddah. This is how the bloodthirsty dictator ended his days, bringing a lot of grief to the people of Uganda. His true image was well revealed in the film “The Last King of Scotland” by British film director Kevin MacDonald.

It’s nice to think that for every Hitler there is a bunker, and for every Stalin there is paralysis. In other words, it is nice to think that justice exists and prevails. Although in reality she is neither one nor the other. To prove this decadent thesis, we cite the history of the reign of the African dictator Idi Amin.

Maxim Rafstein

There are many rumors about Idi Amin, the self-proclaimed “president for life” of Uganda, who ruled the country not for life, but from 1971 to 1979. That he was supposedly a cannibal, and kept the severed heads of his enemies in the refrigerator. That he couldn’t read until he was thirty, and never learned to write...

Here, according to all the laws of the literary genre, we must write “but these are just rumors” or “these rumors are not entirely true.” But we will spit on literary laws with the same ease with which Amin spit on human ones, and we will honestly write that all these rumors are the pure truth.

And let this article serve as a consolation to you when you once again talk, surrounded by friends and beer, about the terrible regime under which we now live. We, of course, are not delighted with it either, but it can be worse.

Childhood, adolescence, youth

From birth, Idi Amin was already different from other people, that is, babies, if not in behavior, then in size: in the first week of his life, the future dictator weighed no less than five kilograms. Amina's mother was either a nurse or a hereditary sorceress who treated the nobility of her native Lugbara tribe.

This is just one of the discrepancies in the biography of the dictator, who did not even know the exact date of his birth, lost somewhere between 1925 and 1928. And all that is known about Idi’s father is that he belonged to the Kakwa tribe, was a converted Muslim and faded even before Amina’s mother gave birth.

The childhood of the future dictator was no different from the childhood of other Ugandan children, who were brought up in poor villages and spent their days playing war games in the surroundings of roadside dust. But this carefree existence could not last long: children had to pay early adulthood for the lack of basic concepts of hygiene and, therefore, the need to wash their hands before eating. Amina's mother asked her next lover, who turned out to be a military man, to take the boy to do dirty work in the barracks of the city of Jinja.

Amin's army career began with cleaning out the latrines of British officers. But soon the teenager was promoted: he began selling sweet cookies, which he often baked himself. Around this period, Idi, following the example of his father who was absent from his life, converted to Islam. Subsequently, faith helped Amin more than once. Idi explained many of his actions, which did not bear the imprint of logic or any mental activity at all, by saying that Allah ordered him to do exactly this and not otherwise in a dream. Very comfortably.

Idi Amin Quotes

“No matter how fast you run, a bullet is still faster.”

"Adolf Hitler was a great man and a true conqueror whose name will never be forgotten."

"I am an African hero."

“Politics is like boxing. You need to knock out your opponents."

“It’s hard to get size 48 shoes in Uganda.”

"I'll eat them before they eat me."

From rags to effendi

Gradually, the British officers paid more and more attention to the huge black youth who was polishing his government boots to a shine. Here he is, the ideal soldier, efficient and stupid! Indeed, Eady was fully endowed with both talents. He was not in the habit of reflecting on the orders of his elders, asking questions, being tormented by doubts, or thinking at all. This is probably why the promotion was not long in coming: in 1948, Idi Amin received the rank of corporal of the 4th battalion of the Royal African Rifles.

Corporal Amin devoted a lot of time to sports - rugby, boxing - and, of course, punitive expeditions. Amin's colleagues said that he showed incredible ingenuity in choosing torture for his victims. For example, during the suppression of the uprising of the Karamojong pastoral tribe, Idi promised that he would castrate the rebellious with his own hands. And he kept his word, although the disobedient ones, of course, quickly ended.

The young fighter’s enthusiasm did not go unnoticed. Soon the British command promoted Eady, granting him the rank of effendi - the highest of all ranks that a black soldier could have in the British army. Along with his new title, Amin also acquired the nickname Dada, which means “sister” in Swahili. This is what Eady called all the women without exception who were caught with him in positions that were far from related.

President's mistake

On October 9, 1962, Uganda was declared an independent unitary state, with the Kabaka (ruler) of the Kingdom of Buganda, Mutesa II, as its president. For Idi, as one of the few Ugandan officers, the country's independence was marked by a dizzying jump up the career ladder. That same year he was appointed captain, and a year later he received the rank of major.

Having thus entered the highest military ranks, Amin made a useful acquaintance with the first prime minister of independent Uganda, Milton Obote. Just in time. Milton was preparing for a military coup to overthrow the power of Mutesa II, and the loyal, cruel, efficient Amin was perfect for the role of his closest ally.

During the coup, Idi showed his best side. He single-handedly led the government troops that stormed the presidential palace, and did it so convincingly that after Mutesa II, driven by a fan, fled to London, Amin was appointed supreme commander of the Ugandan army. Milton, who became the second president of Uganda, in every possible way encouraged his huge (by that time Eadie already weighed about 120 kilograms and was two meters tall) favorite with expensive gifts like a villa overlooking the city, complete with beautiful girls. But Obote still looked down on Idi, considering him the same loyal and stupid warrior and completely not noticing that the giant’s appetites were growing every day.

Bloodless coup

Usually, the lack of writing and reading skills, outlook and ingenuity has a bad effect on an individual’s career. In the case of Idi Amin, the scheme worked exactly the opposite: the big man’s ignorance worked to his advantage.

First, Obote did not take his commander-in-chief seriously and did not care at all about protecting his power.

Secondly, Amin was extremely popular in the army precisely because of his, as it seemed (and apparently, not just seemed) simplicity of thinking and communication.

In addition, during the few years of Obote's reign, Idi managed to distribute the highest command positions among his paternal relatives, and representatives of the Kakwa tribe loyal to him were ready to rebel at a single sign from their corpulent commander-in-chief. And there was a sign for them.

In January 1971, while President Obote was chilling at the Commonwealth summit, his commander-in-chief began a flurry of activity. Troops loyal to Amin surrounded Entebbe International Airport and captured all border posts and the capital of Uganda. At first, Amin’s seizure of power looked quite innocent and even noble: the commander-in-chief, in his first address to the people, immediately announced that he was “a soldier, not a politician” and would be happy to transfer power to civilians when the situation in the country “stabilizes.”

But already on February 2, decree No. 1 was read out on the national radio station, proclaiming Idi Amin Dadu the sole president of Uganda. The British Foreign Office, which did not know how to react to the change of power, decided to lie low and wait it out, and in the meantime sent Amin a telegram in which it congratulated the “wonderful rugby player” on his new post.

Telegrams from Idi Amin

To the President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere:

“I love you so much that if you were a woman, I would marry you, even though all the hair on your head is gray.”

To Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meyer:

“Hitler and his people knew that Jews were not people who worked for peace, and that’s why he burned them in gas chambers on German soil.”

To Queen Elizabeth II of England:

“Arrange for me to visit Scotland, Ireland and Wales so that I can meet the heads of the revolutionary movements fighting your imperialist oppression.”

The terror begins

Amin spent the first six months of his reign endlessly traveling around the country, giving speeches first to one tribe and then to another. Eady came up with speeches on the fly - he still had difficulty reading, and it was easier for him to improvise than to understand the learned scribbles of some adviser. It was precisely the primitivism of the style, sometimes reaching the point of amazing delirium, that Amin’s newly acquired subjects liked so much. “I’m as simple as you,” the big man said from the podium, and the masses, who had nothing to object to, gave him a standing ovation.

Despite the fact that now Eady did not have to get his hands dirty with the blood of others, he continued to personally kill those whom he suspected of treason, potential treason, or the possibility of potential treason. Some researchers believe that during his reign, Idi himself, without anyone’s help, killed about two thousand people. But even more often, the president gave orders to people loyal to him from the specially organized Bureau of State Investigation. Moreover, if Amin wanted the victim to suffer before death, he said: “Treat like a VIP.”

During the first year of his reign, at least 10 thousand people became victims of Amin’s progressive paranoia. It is impossible to say more precisely, since the president’s people simply dumped the bodies in places where crocodiles aggregated in the Nile, without bothering with accounting or funerals. But even crocodiles could not handle such an amount of meat, and soon the corpses began to get stuck in the water intake pipes of the hydroelectric power station. Relatives and friends were not informed of the loss: the person simply disappeared.

The most high-profile case of purges in the ranks of the high command is associated with the name of brigadier Suleiman Hussein. One of the escaped security guards at the presidential palace said that Amin saved Hussein’s head and kept it in a refrigerator in the basement of his residence. That, they say, on long sleepless nights Amin likes to go down to the basement, take out his head and talk to her about painful things. The Western press also accused the Ugandan president of eating human flesh. However, this has not been proven. And in general - you might think that talking to a dead head is not enough!

Fighting bureaucracy

Issued in the spring of 1971, that is, just a couple of months after Amin came to power, Decrees No. 5 and No. 8 finally freed the president’s hands, which had not been too tight before. The fifth decree stated that representatives of the Bureau of State Investigations have the right to detain any citizen “disturbing order.” What exactly was meant by “disturbance of order” was not specified. Such vague wording allowed people from the Bureau to detain any passerby. And when the relatives of this passerby tried to sue to prove his innocence, Decree No. 8 was triggered, which stated that “any person who acts on behalf of the government cannot be brought to court.”

In general, office work under Amin took on primitive forms. The President preferred to give orders verbally. Just a couple of months after the coup, incredible confusion reigned in the ranks of Amin’s subordinates. He could appoint a soldier he liked as a major, simply by approaching him with the words: “I like you, you will be a major!” No decrees, no signatures - to hell with this paperwork! Naturally, Amin was afraid of educated people and therefore hated them. Quite soon they were replaced by illiterate military men.

Disintegration of Uganda

Amin played the harmonica masterfully! This is such a positive inclusion in the article so that we are not inadvertently accused of bias. So let's continue. Even if we subtract the terror from Dada’s reign, the president would go down in the country’s history as the man who managed to bring the country to financial collapse in just a year. The currency completely depreciated, the National Bank went bankrupt. At least 65% of the country's gross domestic product was spent on the army, 8% on education, and 5% on health care. The only successful economic strategy that Amin came up with is again related to terror: the president decided to sell the bodies of victims of repression to their relatives. Since for most Ugandan tribes the burial ritual is one of the most important, the families of the victims came to the Kabira forest, which became a dumping ground for many decomposed corpses, every day in the hope of ransoming the body of a relative. The sales process went smoothly quite quickly, and a fixed fee was even established. Bureau representatives demanded a little over two thousand modern dollars for a minor official, and twice as much for a major official. And people paid this money because they had no other choice. And Amin bought another car of his favorite brand, Mercedes, because he wanted to.

The Oddities of Idi Amin

He kept the heads of his enemies in the refrigerator.

He regularly appeared in public wearing a kilt.

He had a love for Disney cartoons that was unhealthy for an adult.

He bought various orders and medals from collectors and wore them all at the same time.

He couldn’t write and “signed” with his fingerprint.

He demanded that men bow low and women kneel before addressing him.

Clown on the international stage

If within the country the image of the giant Amin quickly acquired tyrannical features, then educated white people from civilized countries at first watched the president’s policies with a contemptuous grin. And he never tired of giving reasons for grins.

What is the first official visit to London worth? After a breakfast organized for the new President of Uganda by the Queen, Amin delivered an amazingly insightful speech in his original English: “Dear Mister Queen, nightmare ministers, imaginary guests, ladies under gentlemen! I thank the Queen profusely for what she has done for me. I’m telling you, I ate so much that I’m now filled to the brim with evil food!” Eadie then asked for the windows to be opened to “let the climate in the room,” and when his request was granted, he invited “Mr. Queen” to come to him in Uganda so that he could “take revenge” and treat the royal personage to “a whole cow that will fill to the brim.” her stomach." Smiling politely at the black giant, the queen asked her secretary in a whisper to explain to her later what exactly Mr. Amin had said. Indeed, it was not easy to understand Dada, fortunately for him: during his years of service in the British army, he never really learned English.

After a couple of years, Eady's relationship with Britain soured. Amin nationalized British property throughout the country and voiced his desire to succeed Queen Elizabeth as leader of the Commonwealth of Nations. And when, in 1972, Amin announced to all Asians living in Uganda (most of them were subjects of the British Empire) that they had ninety days to get out of the country, London suspended payment of the multimillion-dollar loan Amin needed to keep the economy going afloat.

In 1975, photographs circulated around the world in which Amin, sitting in a chair, was carried by four British diplomats (this was the initiative of the dictator). And on the president’s chest, among other undeserved awards, appeared the Victoria Cross - the highest military award of the British Empire, which is awarded only to the British and only for outstanding military services, and certainly not to any strange African presidents for some reason. Great Britain was finished.

However, relations with other countries did not work out either. Neighboring states constantly received telegrams from Amin demanding that Uganda return its “legal territories.” Diplomatic ties with Israel were severed after the ardent anti-Semite Amin said that he was a great admirer of Adolf Hitler and considered Jews “a people who bring no benefit.” Israel’s worthy response to this attack was the Mossad’s most successful operation to free the hostages, which simultaneously demonstrated to the world community that it is possible not only to fight Amin, but also to make him look like a complete idiot.

Raid on Entebbe

So, on June 26, 1976, four terrorists, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, hijacked an Air France Airbus A200 flying from Tel Aviv to Paris with refueling in Athens. There were 248 passengers and 12 crew members on board the hijacked airbus. A couple of hours after the hijacking, the plane landed at... Uganda's Entebbe International Airport.

It turned out that the magnanimous President Idi Amin decided to help his brothers in faith and not only provided them with an airport building where they could house the hostages, but also allocated people to guard them. Moreover, Amin called himself a mediator in negotiations on the exchange of hostages for fifty Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in France, Israel and other countries. Amin has never felt so necessary and significant!

The whole world, frozen, watched the progress of the negotiations. France announced that it would take charge of resolving the conflict, but in Israel, after the bloody history at the Munich Olympics in 1972, they did not really believe the promises of the Europeans. And the Mossad urgently began a liberation operation.

Entebbe Airport, like many other Ugandan military facilities, was built by an Israeli company. With blueprints and testimony from several released hostages, the Mossad was able to plan a quick and effective assault. The operation itself lasted about 50 minutes - from the moment the landing gear of the Israeli cargo planes with the liberation group on board touched the runway of Entebbe airport until the second when the plane, already filled with freed hostages, took off into the sky. As a result of the operation, only four hostages and a lieutenant colonel from the capture group, the brother of the future Israeli Prime Minister Yonatan Netanyahu, died.

When Amin, reveling in his sense of self-importance, was informed that hostages at the airport would no longer be found during the day, the president became terribly angry. Israel made Dada look like a fool in front of the whole world, nullifying his power in less than an hour. This story inspired fighters against Amin's regime both inside and outside Uganda.

Full title of Idi Amin

“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 For military merits."

Family circumstances

Since 1977, attempts on Amin's life have become more frequent. Several times his limousine was fired upon by rebels, but the president was not even wounded. He was saved by his own suspiciousness. Amin had several “understudies” whom he put into a car or plane at the last moment, thereby dooming them to death. The black giant turned into a coward, waking up at night from his own screams and not trusting anyone from his circle. Amin’s suspicions could fall even on the people closest to him, for example on his next wife.

The first of Amin's five wives was thrown into prison by him on charges of illegal trade in textiles. The body of the second was found dismembered in the trunk of an empty car in central Kampala. The third wife was taken to the hospital with signs of numerous beatings and a broken jaw.

But Amin’s relationship with all his recognized children, of whom, according to the president himself, there were fifty (36 sons and 14 daughters), developed very warmly. He loved to play with boys and showered them with gifts. However, the fact that the president was a good father did not prevent Tanzanian troops from entering Uganda in April 1979, seizing the capital and declaring the end of Idi Amin's tyrannical regime.

Justice does not prevail

The attack was not a surprise for Dada: he himself initiated hostilities with Tanzania. Having learned that enemy troops had crossed the border, Amin grabbed all the most valuable things from his residence and, accompanied by a motorcade of a dozen black limousines, left in an unknown direction. A few months later he showed up in Saudi Arabia. King Khalid al-Saud not only did not betray his co-religionist to the Ugandan government, but also provided him with a luxurious apartment and also assigned him a “pension” of $8,000.

In essence, Amin’s story ended in April 1979, although he lived for another quarter of a century, practically not leaving his apartment for fear of being killed. “The Lord of all the beasts on earth and the fish in the sea” died in 2003 in the hospital, surrounded by his wives, children and grandchildren.

If justice had existed, Amin should have died thirty years earlier, in terrible agony, and his body should have been thrown into the Nile to be devoured by the crocodiles that had grown fat during his reign. But no. The bloodthirsty of dictators, who killed more than 300 thousand people during his eight-year reign, died the death of a righteous man at the age of at least 73 years. Moreover, until his last breath, Amin, according to the journalists who visited him in exile, continued to assert that Uganda needed him, and when asked about the atrocities of his regime, he answered philosophically: “In any country there are people who need to be sacrificed for the sake of the prosperity of others.” "

(born in 1925, 1928 or 1930)

President of Uganda 1971–1979 General who declared himself ruler for life of Uganda and field marshal. His regime was characterized by extreme cynicism and bloodthirstiness.

More than twenty years have passed since the people of Uganda, who experienced one of the most cruel tyrannies of the 20th century, freed themselves from the yoke of President Amin, who became famous even in Africa for his incredible cruelty. During the years of his rule, the country lost from 100 to 300 thousand citizens, tortured and killed by the dictator with the support of the army and secret police.

The exact date of birth of the bloody dictator is unknown. Different sources point to 1925, 1928 and 1930, but most agree on 1925. Amin's parents belonged to different tribes. He has the blood of the Kakwa and Lugbara, the pastoralists of northwestern Uganda. The mother of the future ruler of the country was known as a witch. People often turned to her for love potions and “lion water,” which gave strength to men both in love and in battle.

Having left her husband, the sorceress and her son traveled a lot around the country, working on sugar cane plantations that belonged to a wealthy family of Asian origin. The boy learned to stand up for himself at an early age and may have developed a negative attitude towards Asians at the same time. Nevertheless, at the age of 16 he converted to Islam and never changed his religion.

His mother's lover was a corporal in the Royal African Rifles, so Amin decided to become a military man. From 1946 he served in the army as an assistant cook. He then became a soldier, received military training in the British colonial forces and fought in Burma during World War II. There he received an award for bravery and the rank of corporal. One of his former superiors, I. Graham, recalls: “He entered the army service with virtually no education; It is fair to say that before 1958 he was completely illiterate. During the initial period of the May-May uprising in Kenya, Amin was among several corporals who showed outstanding abilities - command, courage and resourcefulness. Therefore, it is not surprising that he was promoted in rank.” It should be added that in Kenya he was also distinguished from others by his cruelty.

In addition to success in the military field, Amin also became famous for his high athletic results. From 1951 to 1960 he was Uganda's champion heavyweight boxer and a world-class rugby player.

In 1961, Amin, despite the fact that he could not even really sign, received the rank of lieutenant, and the next year - major. It was clear that after Graham left he would take his place. And so it happened. However, shortly before this, Amin almost came to trial. The Turkana people complained of Idi's cruelty towards Kenya's herders during the liquidation of their conflict with neighboring tribes. Amin ordered captured soldiers to be tortured, beaten, intimidated by castration, and sometimes personally removed their genitals. The brave warrior was saved only by the personal intervention of Milton Obote, a clever lawyer and professional politician who aimed to become the leader of the country after its independence, which was already looming on the horizon.

In October 1962, Uganda was freed from colonial oppression. As expected, Obote became its prime minister, and the leader of the powerful Buganda tribe, King Mutesa II, became its president. Under the patronage of his uncle, Felix Onama, who became Minister of Internal Affairs in Obote's government, Amin quickly advanced through the ranks. In 1964, he received the rank of brigadier (colonel). His wealth also increased significantly. By 1966, Eady had a house with security, a Cadillac, two wives and was about to marry a third.

In 1966, the Bugandians, dissatisfied with the restrictions on the king’s rights by the prime minister, demanded Obote’s resignation. He suppressed the rebellion with military force. Moreover, Idi Amin, who by that time had become deputy commander of the army, provided him with great help. The prime minister put what he believed was a loyal man at the head of the army, but he miscalculated.

Around 1968, Amin organized the recruitment of recruits into the army in such a way that mainly his fellow Kakwa tribesmen ended up there. Frightened by the strengthening of his comrade, Obote tried to take him into custody. But by that time, Amin already had his own intelligence, and he managed to avoid arrest. He also had supporters among Israeli military specialists working in the country. There is an assumption that it was they who helped Amin carry out the coup, although Obote’s carelessness also played a large role in this.

In early 1971, despite warnings of an impending coup, the prime minister went to a conference in Singapore. Taking advantage of this, the colonel declared himself the ruler of the country on January 25. Obote became an exile, the king also fled abroad, where he soon died. Amin had no more rivals. By decree of February 2, he became a dictator with unlimited powers, supreme commander in chief, and some time later declared himself president for life of Uganda.

So a semi-literate warrior ended up at the head of the country. But Amin initially made an excellent impression on his subjects who hated Obote’s regime. The appearance of the new president appealed to Africans, who were accustomed to seeing a leader primarily as a warrior-hero. The two-meter-tall giant, weighing more than 125 kg, fully corresponded to these ideas. Having also declared himself a field marshal, Amin began wearing an operetta uniform, which also fully met the tastes of his fellow tribesmen.

In addition, in order to enlist the support of the population, Amin released all political prisoners from prison and declared himself the savior of the king, who allegedly warned him about the coup. Montese's body was returned to his homeland. At the reburial, Amin gave a touching speech, in which he recalled the king’s words that someday he would return to his homeland. This secured him the support of the Buganda tribe, whose influence could not be discounted.

Accustomed to relying on the army, Amin already at the first meeting of the government assigned military ranks to all ministers and ordered them to wear uniforms. Each of them received a state-owned Mercedes with the inscription “Military Government” on the doors.

However, military units that fled to Tanzania and remained loyal to Obote tried to overthrow the tyrant in September 1971. There were only a few thousand of them, and Amin easily dealt with the rebels. Twelve people who led the rebellion were executed. Before being shot, they were stripped naked, and some even had their eyes gouged out.

This incident served as an excellent occasion for the deployment of repression within the country. Already in 1972, while secret from the population, brutal terror began, initially directed against Obote’s fellow tribesmen - the Langi people. 70 officers who resisted during the coup were immediately killed. Former chief of staff Suleiman Hussein was beheaded. A security guard who fled from the palace said that Amin placed this “trophy” in the refrigerator and at times had “conversations” with his head. And once, during a reception, to the horror of those around him, the president ordered the head to be brought into the banquet hall, began spitting at it and throwing knives, cursing the deceased in every possible way.

The destruction of the army command staff did not stop there. Amin was afraid of a new coup and was extremely suspicious. Within three months, the number of victims of the regime exceeded 10 thousand. Some of the officers who came under suspicion were summoned to internal security exercises at Makiende prison. There they were locked in cells and bayoneted. Staff officers were gathered in the hall, ostensibly to listen to the president's lecture, and they threw grenades there. Officially, everyone was declared traitors and reported that they were shot after the trial. Then Amin unleashed genocide against the military from the Acholi and Langi tribes hostile to him. There were approximately 5 thousand of them in the army. Soon 4 thousand of them were destroyed. But civilians were also harmed. Amin’s order was in effect to destroy everyone whose last name begins with “O”. This meant belonging to the Obote people. The corpses were fed to crocodiles living in a special cage.

When two Americans - journalist N. Straw and sociology teacher R. Siedle - tried to understand the situation, they were shot and their corpses were buried in a shell crater. When the American embassy became interested in the fate of its citizens, the bodies were urgently dug up and burned. Later, at the insistence of the United States, a judicial investigation began, which found Amin’s officers guilty. But Amin declared his results invalid.

All this could not remain secret for long. A general flight of the intelligentsia, whom Amin hated and persecuted, began from the country. In fear for their lives, 15 ministers, 6 ambassadors and 8 deputy ministers refused to return from business trips abroad. Therefore, when the dictator first went abroad to secure financial support for Israel, he was refused. Then the enraged Amin found an ally in the person of the Libyan leader M. Gaddafi, an ardent opponent of the Jewish state. Soon a representative office of the Palestinian Liberation Organization was opened in Uganda. All Israeli specialists who helped in the construction of a number of facilities were expelled from the country. In Uganda, where Muslims made up only 10 percent of the population, forced Islamization began. Men were allowed to take any number of wives. True, it didn’t come down to the veil, but women were forbidden to wear miniskirts, trousers and wigs.

During his presidency, Amin himself had 5 wives and at least thirty mistresses. Some of them were brutally killed. After the divorce, Kay Adroa's dismembered corpse was found in the trunk of a car, and another of Amin's divorced wives, Maliimu Putesi, was caused a car accident.

Meanwhile, the president's actions had a negative impact on the country's economic situation. A year later, the standard of living of the population dropped sharply, and the National Bank began printing banknotes in unlimited quantities. It was urgent to find the culprits. Amin stated that Allah, who appeared to him in a dream, ordered the expulsion from the country of all citizens of Asian origin, of whom there were more than 70 thousand in the country. They began to convince the people that Asians had been “milking” Uganda for many years and were to blame for its plight. In 1972, the nationalization of their enterprises was announced and their bank accounts were seized. Immigrants from India and Pakistan were asked to leave the country within 90 days. Many of them, deprived of their means of subsistence, died in exile from hunger and disease.

The expulsion of the Asians led to the final economic collapse. When the property of the robbed people passed into the hands of non-commissioned officers of the Ugandan army, people who had no idea about anything other than a rifle, it quickly fell into disrepair. Imports of cotton, tea and coffee fell sharply as the area occupied by these crops was significantly reduced. Even in the capital, salt, sugar and matches disappeared. In 1977, Uganda was listed among the 25 poorest countries in the world. But the dictator lived in the luxurious palace of the exiled multimillionaire Mdhvani in Jinja and rode around in his luxurious limousine.

To stay in power, Amin created a security service - the Bureau of State Investigations, which cost him a lot. Devotion to the secret police had to be paid for with expensive gifts. There was no money for this. Therefore, the dictator began a real hunt for people who often had nothing to do with the opposition. The situation in the country began to resemble a nightmare from an American thriller.

Among the tribal customs of Uganda, the cult of the dead occupies a very important place. The body of the deceased must be buried by relatives. Otherwise, the family will face innumerable troubles. Therefore, Ugandans are willing to pay any money for the opportunity to get a body. Amin took advantage of this. People were grabbed right on the streets, taken to the bureau headquarters and killed there. When a sufficient number of corpses accumulated in the basements, they were taken to the forest on the outskirts of the capital and hidden under bushes. Then they contacted the relatives and promised to find the body for a large reward. After receiving the money, they were taken to the forest and allowed to take the body. Unclaimed corpses were dumped into Lake Victoria. They often clogged the filters of the Owen Falls hydroelectric power plant.

In the foreign policy arena, the Ugandan dictator, who hated Israel, actively supported Palestinian terrorists. When they hijacked an Air France plane with about 300 people on board in June 1976, Amin allowed the terrorists to land in Uganda, supplied them with weapons and met with them twice. The Israeli hostages (the rest were released) were kept in the airport passenger terminal. They were threatened with brutal reprisals if 53 Palestinian terrorists were not released from Israeli and European prisons. Then Israel, whose specialists were building the airfield where the terrorists were located, decided on a desperate operation. On July 3, Israeli Air Force planes with commandos on board landed near the terminal. During the assault, 20 Israelis and 7 terrorists were killed, but the hostages remained alive. Only Dora Blanche, who was during the operation in a local hospital, died. The unfortunate woman was shot on the orders of Amin, and her burned corpse was thrown on the deserted outskirts of the capital. Ugandan Ministry of Information photographer Jimmy Parma, who photographed the remains, was also shot dead. And the dictator only lamented the destruction of 11 MIGs - the basis of his Air Force.

That same year, the world was shocked by another crime by the Ugandan tyrant. The Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, Yanani Luvuma, along with other church dignitaries, sent a petition to Amina condemning his regime and attacks on the Christian Church. Amin personally shot and killed the archbishop in his room at the Nile Hotel, after forcing him to pray for peace in Uganda. According to the government report, Luwum ​​died in a car accident; he was posthumously accused of plotting against the president.

In addition to bloody crimes, Amin also became famous for his odious behavior. In addition to the titles of president and field marshal, the dictator awarded himself the titles of doctor, Lord of all creatures on earth and fish in the sea, and even the last king of Scotland. More than once he was the initiator of international scandals. Once he even declared war on the United States, which lasted one day. Another time, he decided to erect a monument to his idol, Adolf Hitler, and only under pressure from the USSR, which patronized him, did he abandon this plan.

In the spring of 1978, when a conflict arose between Uganda and neighboring Tanzania, Amin challenged the leader of this country, Julius Nyerere, to the ring. That fight, naturally, did not take place. But it is to him that the Ugandans owe their deliverance from the bloody dictatorship. When Amin's troops violated the Tanzanian border, the Tanzanian army repulsed the aggressor, and then moved on the capital and captured it on April 11, 1979. The Tanzanians were supported by the Uganda National Liberation Front, which united numerous anti-Amin organizations in the country in 1978. On the radio, Amin called on the military units loyal to him to gather in Jinja, but there were none. The dictator himself did not arrive in the capital. He fled to Libya to Gaddafi on a private plane.

According to scant press reports, the former president now lives in the Saudi city of Jeddah. The King of Saudi Arabia provided him with a pension and two expensive cars. The gossip and outright fear of neighbors, convinced that during his terrible reign, their famous neighbor drank human blood and ate human flesh, do not bother Amin. He is calm behind the secure fence of a luxurious marble villa, where he lives with his surviving wife, Sarah, surrounded by numerous officially recognized children. It is believed that he has 50 of them: 36 sons and 14 daughters. Journalists write that Amin is studying Arabic, reading “The History of the Second World War,” and also practices boxing and karate. A committed Muslim, the former dictator prays at the local mosque every week.

However, Amin did not like such a life. After repeated statements that he wanted to create a base for the military takeover of Uganda in the village of Koboko near the Zairean border, in early January 1989, the former dictator, together with his son Ali, secretly, with a false passport, arrived in the capital of Zaire (now the Republic of Congo) Kinshasa . Here both were captured and sent to Saudi Arabia. However, the king refused to accept the restless resident. The problem had to be solved by several heads of state over a long period of time. Finally, the king granted Amin political asylum for the second time on the condition that he leave politics forever. Perhaps Amin complies with this condition. In any case, no reports about his further fate appeared in the press. However, in Uganda itself, President Yoweri Museveni, as part of a “national reconciliation program,” began a campaign to rehabilitate the dictator.

Pankin Sergei Aleksandrovich Amin carefully supported him by the arm. I was born on July 28, 1958 in the glorious city of Moscow on Avtozavodskaya Street. Until the eighth grade, I studied at school 479, which is located next to the Kolomenskaya metro station. After finishing the eighth grade, he graduated from Moscow

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