Idi Amin Biography
Idi Amin Dada Oumee was born in 1925 in Koboko, Northwestern Uganda. He was a member of Kakwa tribe, and was a part of a Muslim family. He was deserted by his father at an early age, and was brought up by his mother. Amin was very athletic, and was the champion in Uganda’s heavyweight boxing championship from 1951 to 1960. In 1946 he joined the King’s African Rifles, a British colonial force. Amin was one of Uganda’s first commissioned army officers. Amin became very high in ranking after Uganda got independence in 1962. He became the head of the army air force in 1966. He became very close with Prime Minister Milton Obote. He sent Amin overseas training programs. Despite his friendship with Obote, Amin led a group on January 25, 1971 to overthrow President Obote, and Amin took his place. He was a ruthless, arrogant, and shrewd president. He couldn’t read and he wasn’t very intelligent, but he could outflank an opponent with his sly, cunning ways. He murdered and tortured important and unimportant people in tribes he disliked. During his bloody reign from 1971 to 1979 about 100,000 to 300,000 people died. He was so brutal that he was known as the “Butcher of Uganda.” His cruel actions caused a strained relationship between Uganda and United States, Britain, and other Western countries so he asked help from the Soviet Union. In 1972, Amin banished all Asians and British owned businesses, and this significantly hurt Uganda’s economy. In June 1975 he threatened to murder a man named Denis Hills just for criticizing him. At the United Nations General Assembly in October 1975 he announced that he wanted Israel to be extinct and obliterated. In that same year before October in June, Amin was named president for life by the Ugandan Defense Council. He also helped Palestinian terrorists in 1976 to force an Air France jet to land in Uganda to be hijacked. In 1978 he declared an invasion on Northwestern Tanzania which resulted in an invasion on Uganda in 1979. In April, the Tanzanian forces exiled him to Libya. He died in exile in Jidda, Saudi Arabia on August 16, 2003.