Amin, Idi (ē`dē amēn`), c.1925–2003, Ugandan army officer and dictator. From the small Kakwa ethnic group, he advanced in the Ugandan armed forces from private (1946) to major general (1968). In 1971 he seized control of the government, toppling the regime of Milton Obote Obote, Apollo Milton (ōbō`tā), 1924–2005, president of Uganda (1966–71, 1980–85).
..... Click the link for more information. . In power, Amin exhibited an unpredictable personality, often capricious and cruel yet displaying a modicum of shrewdness and cunning. His relatively brief regime was nonetheless vicious and corrupt; he brutally suppressed other ethnic groups and political enemies, killed what is believed to be nearly 300,000 (most innocent of any wrongdoing), tortured uncounted thousands more, and looted the nation's treasury. In 1972 he ordered the expulsion of Ugandans of Asian extraction, thrusting the nation into economic chaos. Tanzanian troops joined exiled Ugandan nationalists to invade Uganda in 1978, and Amin was driven into exile in Saudi Arabia the following year.

Bibliography

See J. T. Strate, Post-Military Coup Strategy in Uganda: Amin's Early Attempts to Consolidate Political Support in Africa (1973), H. Kyemba, A State of Blood (1977), D. Barnett and R. Wooding, Uganda Holocaust (1980), and P. A. Allen, Interesting Times: Life in Uganda under Idi Amin (2000); B. Schroeder, dir., General Idi Amin Dada (documentary film, 1976; video, 2002).

Amin (Dada Oumee), Idi

Idi Amin.

(credit: Janet Griffith/Black Star)

(born 1924/25, Koboko, Ugan.—died Aug. 16, 2003, Jiddah, Saud.Ar.) Military officer and president (1971–79) of Uganda. A member of the small Kakwa ethnic group and a Muslim, he was closely associated during his military career with Milton Obote, Uganda's first prime minister and president. In 1971 he staged a coup against Obote. He expelled all Asians from Uganda in 1972, reversed Uganda's amicable relations with Israel, was personally involved in the Palestinian hijacking of a French airliner to Entebbe (see Entebbe raid), and ordered the torture and murder of 100,000–300,000 Ugandans. In 1978 he ordered an attack on Tanzania, but Tanzanian troops, aided by Ugandan nationalists, were able to overpower the invaders. As the Tanzanian-led forces neared Kampala, Uganda's capital, Amin fled to Libya and eventually settled in Saudi Arabia.