90 Facts About Idi Amin

Idi Amin ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history.

Idi Amin 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 Idi Amin remained in the army, rising to the position of deputy army commander in 1964 and being appointed commander two years later.

Idi Amin became aware that Ugandan president Milton Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, so he launched the 1971 Ugandan coup d'etat and declared himself president.

In 1972, Idi Amin expelled Asians, a majority of whom were Indian-Ugandans, leading India to sever diplomatic relations with his regime.

In 1975, Idi Amin assumed chairmanship of the Organisation of African Unity, an intergovernmental organization designed to promote solidarity among African states.

The United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Uganda in 1977, and Idi Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title for "Conqueror of the British Empire".

Idi Amin then attempted to annex Tanzania's Kagera Region in 1978.

Idi Amin went into exile, first in Libya, then Iraq, and finally in Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death in 2003.

Idi Amin's rule was characterized by rampant human rights abuses, including political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, as well as nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement.

The most comprehensive biography of Idi Amin comes from his family based on oral tradition, which has some authority but its details ultimately cannot be confirmed.

Idi Amin was given the name Idi after his birth on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

Idi Amin was the third son of Amin Dada Nyabira Tomuresu, an ethnic Kakwa, and his second wife, Aisha Chumaru Aate, a Lugbara.

Idi Amin's father was christened as a Roman Catholic and born with the name Andreas Nyabira Tomuresu.

Idi Amin converted to Islam in 1910 after being conscripted as a bugler by the colonial British army under his uncle, the Kakwa tribal leader Sultan Ali Kenyi Dada as a six-year-old child soldier and was given the name Amin Dada.

Idi Amin joined the Protectorate Police Force in Kampala's Nsambia Police Barracks in 1913.

Idi Amin was transferred to the Kololo Police Barracks and retired from the police force in 1931 and worked at the Office of the Resident District Commissioner in Arua District.

Idi Amin's mother, Aisha Aate, was born to a Kakwa mother and Lugbara father.

Ten years before Idi Amin's birth, Aate joined the Allah Water movement, which was an anti-colonial alternative medicine congregation centered on a "water of Yakan" that was infused with a psychedelic daffodil plant locally known as Kamiojo, described as the "LSD of Central Africa".

Idi Amin's parents divorced when he was four, and most accounts suggest that he moved in with his mother's family in 1944 in the rural farming town of Mawale Parish, Luweero District, in north-western Uganda.

In 1940, Idi Amin moved to Bombo and lived with his maternal uncle, Yusuf Tanaboo.

Idi Amin attempted to register for primary school but was rejected, this was reportedly due to Amin's paternal Nubian heritage.

Idi Amin was enrolled in the Garaya madrasa in Bombo and continued memorizing the Quran under Mohammed Al Rajab until 1944, and reportedly won honours in recitation in 1943.

Idi Amin was conscripted by the colonial army alongside fifteen other students before being discharged for being underage.

Idi Amin joined the King's African Rifles in 1946 as an assistant cook, while at the same time receiving military training until 1947.

Idi Amin was transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in 1947, and served in the 21st KAR infantry battalion in Gilgil, Kenya Colony until 1949.

Idi Amin was promoted to corporal the same year, then to sergeant in 1953.

In 1959, Idi Amin was made Effendi Class 2, the highest possible rank for a black soldier in the KAR.

Idi Amin returned to Uganda the same year and received a short-service commission as a lieutenant on 15 July 1961, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers.

Idi Amin was assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's Karamojong and Kenya's Turkana nomads.

In 1962, following Uganda's independence from the United Kingdom, Idi Amin was promoted to captain and then, in 1963, to major.

Idi Amin was appointed Deputy Commander of the Army in 1964 and, the following year, to Commander of the Army.

Idi Amin was an athlete during his time in both the British and Uganda Army.

Amin was a formidable rugby forward, although one officer said of him: "Idi Amin is a splendid type and a good player, but virtually bone from the neck up, and needs things explained in words of one letter".

In 1965, Prime Minister Milton Obote and Idi Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle ivory and gold into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Idi Amin led an attack on the Kabaka's palace and forced Mutesa into exile to the United Kingdom, where he remained until his death in 1969.

Idi Amin began recruiting members of Kakwa, Lugbara, South Sudanese, and other ethnic groups from the West Nile area bordering South Sudan.

Many African ethnic groups in northern Uganda inhabit both Uganda and South Sudan; allegations persist that Idi Amin's army consisted mainly of South Sudanese soldiers.

Troops loyal to Idi Amin sealed off Entebbe International Airport and took Kampala.

Idi Amin, who presented himself a soldier, not a politician, declared that the military government would remain only as a caretaker regime until new elections, which would be held when the situation was normalized.

Idi Amin held a state funeral in April 1971 for Edward Mutesa, former king of Buganda and president, who had died in exile.

On 2 February 1971, one week after the coup, Idi Amin declared himself President of Uganda, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Uganda Army Chief of Staff, and Chief of Air Staff.

Idi Amin suspended certain provisions of the Ugandan constitution, and soon instituted an Advisory Defense Council composed of military officers with himself as the chairman.

Idi Amin placed military tribunals above the system of civil law, appointed soldiers to top posts in government and government-owned corporations, and informed the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers that they would be subject to military courtesy.

Idi Amin ruled by decree; over the course of his rule he issued approximately 30 decrees.

Idi Amin renamed the presidential lodge in Kampala from Government House to "The Command Post".

Idi Amin disbanded the General Service Unit, an intelligence agency created by the previous government, and replaced it with the State Research Bureau.

Idi Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972 by purging the Uganda Army of Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups.

Idi Amin's practices do not stop at tasting blood: on several occasions he has boasted to me and others that he has eaten human flesh.

Idi Amin recruited his followers from his own ethnic group, the Kakwas, along with South Sudanese, and Nubians.

On 4 August 1972, Idi Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 50,000 Asians who were British passport holders.

Idi Amin expropriated businesses and properties belonging to the Asians and the Europeans and handed them over to his supporters.

Idi Amin murdered an estimated 500 Yemeni Hadrami Arab merchants.

Idi Amin, who had served with the King's African Rifles and taken part in Britain's suppression of the Mau Mau uprising prior to Ugandan independence, was known by the British as "intensely loyal to Britain".

Idi Amin decided to seek foreign support elsewhere and in February 1972 he visited Libya.

Idi Amin sent several thousand Ugandans to Eastern Bloc countries for military, intelligence, and technical training, especially Czechoslovakia.

In retaliation for Kenya's assistance in the raid, Idi Amin ordered the killing of hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda.

Uganda under Idi Amin embarked on a large military build-up, which raised concerns in Kenya.

Tension between Uganda and Kenya reached its climax in February 1976, when Idi Amin announced that he would investigate the possibility that parts of southern Sudan and western and central Kenya, up to within 32 kilometres of Nairobi, were historically a part of colonial Uganda.

In January 1977 Idi Amin appointed General Mustafa Adrisi Vice President of Uganda.

The growing dissatisfaction in the Uganda Army was reflected by frequent coup attempts; Idi Amin was even wounded during one of them, namely Operation Mafuta Mingi in June 1977.

Idi Amin then proceeded to purge several high-ranking officials from his government and took personal control of several ministerial portfolios.

Idi Amin sent troops against the mutineers, some of whom had fled across the Tanzanian border.

However, as Tanzania began to prepare a counter-offensive, Idi Amin reportedly realized his precarious situation, and attempted to defuse the conflict without losing face.

Idi Amin made few public appearances in the final months of his rule, but spoke frequently on radio and television.

However, Idi Amin was forced to flee the Ugandan capital by helicopter on 11 April 1979, when Kampala was captured.

Idi Amin first escaped to Libya, where he stayed until 1980, and ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi royal family allowed him sanctuary and paid him a generous subsidy in return for staying out of politics.

Idi Amin lived for a number of years on the top two floors of the Novotel Hotel on Palestine Road in Jeddah.

In January 1989, Idi Amin left his exile without authorization by the Saudi Arabian government and flew alongside one of his sons to Zaire.

In return, Idi Amin had to promise to never again participate in any political or military activities, nor give interviews.

Idi Amin consequently spent the remainder of his life in Saudi Arabia.

Idi Amin pleaded with the Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, to allow him to return to Uganda for the remainder of his life.

Museveni replied that Idi Amin would have to "answer for his sins the moment he was brought back".

Idi Amin was buried in Ruwais Cemetery in Jeddah in a simple grave, without any fanfare.

Idi Amin has defended this, arguing: "I'm not ashamed of considering it, because his regime goes down in the scale of Pol Pot as one of the worst of all African regimes".

Idi Amin married at least six women, three of whom he divorced.

Idi Amin married his first and second wives, Malyamu and Kay, in 1966.

In 1974, Kay Idi Amin died under mysterious circumstances, with her body found dismembered.

Idi Amin's last known child, daughter Iman, was born in 1992.

Idi Amin had been convicted for possession of offensive weapons, theft and fraud in the years before.

Jaffar Idi Amin said he was writing a book to rehabilitate his father's reputation.

Idi Amin never received the Distinguished Service Order or the Military Cross.

Idi Amin conferred a doctorate of law on himself from Makerere University as well as the Victorious Cross, a medal made to emulate the British Victoria Cross.

Idi Amin became the subject of rumours, including a widespread belief that he was a cannibal.

Idi Amin reportedly boasted that he kept the severed heads of political enemies in his freezer, although he said that human flesh was generally "too salty" for his taste.

The comedy-variety series Saturday Night Live aired four Idi Amin sketches between 1976 and 1979, including one in which he was an ill-behaved houseguest in exile, and another in which he was a spokesman against venereal disease.

The foreign media were often criticized by Ugandan exiles and defectors for emphasizing Idi Amin's self-aggrandizing eccentricities and taste for excess while downplaying or excusing his murderous behavior.

Ugandan soldier and rebel Patrick Kimumwe argued that Idi Amin's "clowning conceal[ed] a ruthless extinction of human rights" in Uganda.

Idi Amin is played by Joseph Olita, who reprised this role in Mississippi Masala, a film about romance between African and Asian-Americans following Idi Amin's 1972 expulsion of Asians from Uganda.

In 2006, the book was adapted into a movie, where Idi Amin is portrayed by Forest Whitaker.