Idi Amin, the dictator who pawned independent Uganda

AndA highly focused and seductive Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin was, above all, a ruthless and brutal mass murderer. He styled himself “Lord of Beasts” and “King of Scotland”, and he went down in history under other, much less benevolent names. The “Butcher of Uganda”, the “African Hitler” was one of the bloodiest tyrants the African continent had ever known.

Numbers

Half a million murders

“I want to be remembered as a great boxer,” he said in his last interview, referring to his beginnings as a boxer. nothing else. Instead, he has recorded in history the thousands of murders committed under his rule: more than half a million, although it is still difficult to make the calculations because the disappearances were part of daily life in Uganda and most of the deaths died. As traffic accidents despite the usual deformations displayed by the corpses. It is said that during the Idi Amin regime, Ugandan crocodiles were fed better than ever before.

the beginning

Meteorite military career

With a height of 1.95 meters and a weight of 110 kilograms, he became famous as a boxer. He attained the rank of sergeant with his fists; He was awarded the lieutenant in 1962, when Uganda gained independence from Great Britain, and was awarded Chief of the General Staff in 1966 by the country’s first president, Milton Obote, for his services.

coup

His assault on power

Then began the life of parties, abuses and financial scandals. Obote tried to push him away, but Amin stepped forward. With a coup followed by a purge of unrelated soldiers, he came to power in 1971 with the approval of the West.

radical change

His terrible reign begins

His soldiers roamed the country plundering cities, raping women and scattering corpses in gutters. His African perversion led to the expulsion of thousands of Asians in 1972, leading to the collapse of the national economy. Then the West refused to sell him weapons.

family horror

sexual predator

Amin divorced his first three wives – Maliamo, Kai and Nora – accusing them of infidelity. Then a nightmare life began for them, and they were subjected to endless harassment until Kai was found murdered and dismembered in the trunk of a car and the other two fled the country. When Amin loved a woman, he killed her boyfriend or husband and made her his own. A behavior that will soon imitate all his followers.

your nicknames

‘big daddy’

He called himself nicknames such as “Great Father” or “Chief for Life”, but what he liked most was “King of Scotland”, derived from his professed admiration for Scottish soldiers, whom he came across while serving in the colonial army. Such was the country’s fascination that he called two of his sons Campbell and McKenzie and was dressed as a Ugandan army unit. skirts A review on the sound of bagpipes.

Shelter

unpunished crimes

He was overthrown on April 11, 1979 by the Ugandan National Liberation Front. He took refuge first in Libya, then in Iraq, and ended up spending the rest of his days peacefully in Saudi Arabia with about thirty of his 40-plus children and his two wives. He died in 2003 AD, of a lung disease in a hospital in the Saudi city of Jeddah, at the age of 78.

date date

October 2, 1975

It was one of the most surreal moments of his dictatorship. On that date, Amin forced 14 white diplomats, five of them British, to kneel before him, swear allegiance, join his armed forces, and pledge to fight against the South African regime. THe also compelled them, from time to time, to carry him on their shoulders on his throne.

Cannibalism?

People said that…

After his overthrow, he found in his refrigerator the heads of some of his opponents. This raised suspicions about cannibalism that were in force during his tenure. It was said that he denied this, saying: “I have tasted human flesh and it is too salty for my taste.”