In 2006, the British film “The Last Dictatorship” was released. This historical film was well received upon its release. The lead actor, Forest Whitaker, played a cunning, brutal, suspicious but charismatic black president, and showed the oppression of the king as a tiger. Due to his amazing acting skills, Whitaker won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor for this film.
Whitaker won the award for his role as the man who has been known as the first of the “Three African Tyrants”, who is:
His Excellency Idi Amin Dada, President for Life, Field Marshal, Haji, recipient of the Victoria Cross, the Order of Merit and the Military Cross, ruler of all land animals and marine fish, last King of Scotland, victor of the British Empire in Africa and Uganda, Chancellor of Makerere University, Professor of Geography, Doctor Idi Amin Dada!
Two hundred pounds of Hercules
Idi Amin, former President of Uganda, military dictator, and one of the most notorious rulers in recent history.
Located in eastern Africa, Uganda is a highland country straddling the equator, with a total area of 240,000 square kilometers and a population of about 44 million in 2018, which is similar to a province of China in terms of volume. But Uganda’s economy is very backward, with a per capita GDP of just over seven hundred dollars in 2019, almost one-fourteenth of China’s.
Uganda is a landlocked country with little mineral resources, and its main export is coffee. Churchill once called this place “the pearl of Africa”, but the pearl in the mouth of the Great Britain is basically the same as the handsome man in the mouth of the shopping mall guide, with the British colonies per capita pearl, polite polite don’t take it seriously.
This country should have been one of the many African countries in obscurity, but because of the emergence of Amin and famous in the world.
In the international legend, Amin, who slaughtered more than 300,000 Ugandans, was notorious for being a “cannibalistic tyrant”. It was rumored that after executing his enemies, political opponents and dissidents, Amin was particularly fond of dismembering, cutting up and eating the “human flesh of his opponents”.
Amin was born in 1926 in a small village in northwest Uganda to a father named Karawa and a mother named Lukobala. Amin’s father abandoned them at an early age, and his mother worked hard to raise several children, living in poverty. Because the Family was so poor, Amin only attended four years of elementary school in his life, and remained isolated from Culture for the rest of his life.
However, everyone who came in contact with Amin said that although he was uneducated, he was quite intelligent, had a good understanding and judgment, and was a semi-literate person with a good sense of intelligence.
By the 1940s, growing into adulthood, Amin chose the only path for young Ugandans to get ahead – to join the army. He joined the British colonial army, but because of his blackness, Amin was not a soldier at first, but a kitchen helper, helping the cooks.
However, Amin was clearly not fit for this job. Because although his family is poor, physical development is not delayed at all. Amin’s height reached one meter 93, weighing more than two hundred and twenty pounds, basically a meat shield and tank.
It was because of his size that he was seen by the British officer, who thought how a Ugandan Hercules of more than two hundred pounds could work as a garlic picker in the back kitchen. Soon, Amin was integrated into the combat unit and followed the British to fight in the north and south.
Amin fought with the British army in Burma, suppressed the Kenyan and Somali uprisings, and was promoted to Warrant Officer, the highest rank a black man could attain in the British army, because of his bravery in combat.
Not only was Amin physically imposing, but he was also a martial arts master. He was a very strong boxer, boxing was the national sport in Uganda and Amin was the best in Ugandan boxing, with many battles proving that Amin’s boxing was world class.
Interestingly, when Amin served in the British Army, he fought alongside the Scottish Highland Regiment. The Scots impressed Amin, and he thought the Scots were brave and resolute and qualified warriors. And he felt that Scotland had been ruled by England for so long that it shared the same disease as Uganda.
Therefore, Amin actually had a wonderful feeling of homesickness for places he had not been to, and regarded Scotland as his spiritual homeland. After he became president, he often wore short skirts in the presidential palace, playing bagpipes, playing Scottish cosplay, all his life was a fine Scottish (Gran).
After serving in the British Army for nearly 20 years, Amin returned to Uganda and began the presidential journey of a Jing Su.
In 1962, with the permission of Britain, Uganda became officially independent. But the independent Uganda established a very wonderful system.
The newly independent Uganda was not a republic, but a federation, which retained the old Ugandan chiefdoms such as Buganda and Toro, while having modern positions such as the president of the parliament. The president was elected by the kings of the major kingdoms, and the first president was King Mutesa II of Buganda.
There are kingdoms, there are federations, and the kings choose the leaders of the federations. Isn’t this the electorate system of the Holy Roman Empire? Who would have thought that more than a hundred years after the destruction of Shinra, the legal system of Shinra was regenerated in Uganda! Uganda in the sixties thus became the Jingra Happy Nation under the arrangement of the British.
But this system left by the British was just a shelf, and the old feudalists of the major kingdoms could not play the modern state at all. After the independence of Uganda, the real power was in the hands of Milton Obote, the first Prime Minister of Uganda. Obote.
Obote was a university student, good at party politics, and soon took control of the military and political power in Uganda, while the president and the parliament were just a vase.
The process of Amin’s acquaintance with Obote was very similar to An Lushan’s fortune, because he was given to Obote for trial for committing crimes. Amin also knew how to repay the favor and was loyal to Obote, and soon became the second-in-command of the Ugandan army.
After forming a political alliance, Amin and Obote soon found a new way to generate income, and they began to use their power to smuggle Gold and ivory, making a fortune. Perhaps the two made too much money to attract jealousy, or perhaps the two had too much power to cause public anger, in any case, because of Obote and Amin’s smuggling behavior, the National Assembly demanded an investigation of the two, President Mutesa also on Obote accusations.
Obote think you really do not have some batch number in your heart, military and political power in my hands, a false position president still dare to accuse the master? In February 1966, with the support of Amin, Obote staged a coup d’état, overthrew President Mutesa, abolished several kingdoms in the country, turned Uganda from a federation into a republic, and became the president himself.
But after Obote came to power, the old drama played out once again. As Amin’s power gradually increased, it began to pose a threat to Obote, so Obote wanted to deprive Amin of his power and began to fight him politically. Meanwhile, as Obote was pro-Soviet and confiscated many Anglo-American properties in Uganda, Anglo-American was very dissatisfied with Obote and encouraged Amin to stage a coup to replace Obote.
On January 15, 1971, Amin took advantage of Obote’s visit to Singapore to stage a coup and seize power in Uganda, taking control of the country ten days later.
In the process of overthrowing Obote, Amin had already shown his brutal nature.
Obote had deep roots and had many henchmen in Uganda. Amin had all of them executed, and later on, even the whole Uganda as long as the surname “O” was considered to be Obote’s accomplice, within three months of the coup, tens of thousands of people surnamed “O” were executed throughout Uganda. Amin’s men threw all these bodies into the Nile River, blocking it at the most and preventing the hydroelectric power station from generating electricity.
The Acholi and Rangi, who supported Obote the most, were all cleared by Amin. He put more than 1,200 prisoners of war in houses and blew them up with explosives, and at least 15,000 tribal members were killed one after another. In just a few months, all adult men of the two tribes were wiped out.
Relying on violent purges, Amin quickly stabilized the situation, former President Obote fled to Tanzania, and Uganda entered the Amin era.
Now, this 200-plus-pound Ugandan Hercules is ready to rule the country!
To evaluate the state of Amin’s rule in one sentence, it is –
“A rooster, he wants to lay eggs, not his job, ah, he wants to do”
Uganda, the center of the universe
In the political arena of the world, there are always factional divisions, some are conservative, some are radical, some are leftist, some are rightist. And if Amin’s rule is summed up in factions, he would belong to the abstract faction.
After replacing Obote, Amin went on a national tour. Going to various tribes to give speeches as well as – taking wives, he believed that taking a wife from each tribe represented his rainy day. He had 13 wives and more than 50 sons and daughters in his life, and more illegitimate children, breeding a company of brothers himself.
Movie stills.
Amin’s speech was passionate, very infectious, and very motivating to the people. He made hundreds of promises to people everywhere, including abolishing the Secret Police, restoring the economy, developing Education, investing in transportation, punishing corruption, improving welfare, and so on.
However, according to the analysis of later sources, although Amin was a dim ruler, he did write blank checks out of sincerity, and he did subjectively hope to change the poverty of the common people, often with some plain and impractical initiatives to love the people. Amin was more interested in physically knocking the bones out of the people than in economically knocking the bones out of the people. Compared to the streams of Mobutu and Bokassa, Amin had not actually saved much property.
It’s not that Amin didn’t want to keep his promises, but the president, who spent the first half of his life boxing, really didn’t know how to govern.
After the fall of the Amin regime, ministers from the former Amin government came out for an interview. This is what he said about Amin:
“He couldn’t stay in office all day. He can’t concentrate on important things for half an hour, he doesn’t read anything, he can’t write anything, he just counts on his fingers. His IQ level is simply not good enough to attend cabinet meetings, he doesn’t understand what people are saying, and he can’t learn to sign reports. Because of his ignorance, he could not imagine at all what was going on in the country, and he had to live with gossip by listening to others to understand.”
Movie stills.
Under Amin’s rule, the Ugandan government was basically non-existent in terms of such things as official documents, and the president didn’t bother to read them. Like Bokassa, Amin gave his orders only through radio, turning Uganda’s national radio into a private FM that felt like he could sing a chorus of “Would You Love Me If I Were a DJ” with Bokassa.
For government personnel, Amin is called Uganda’s little Chongzhen. In his 8 years in power, he has changed 19 cabinets, and almost all the old elites in Uganda have been expelled from the government. Anyone who can please Amin can be promoted to the next level. Whether you are a cook or a florist or a driver or a security guard, if Amin is happy, you can be made a minister or a general. Under Ah Ming, there was no appointment letter, but a word of advice – you are a major today!
In 1972, like Hong Xiuquan, Amin suddenly announced that God had sent him a dream to drive out the Asians and “give the opportunity back to the Ugandan people”. Most of the Asians in Uganda at that Time were Indians, a group of Indians who were good at business and had monopolized the commerce of Uganda. When Amin ordered them to leave Uganda within three months, the soldiers entered the Asian settlements and looted them, and the Asian inhabitants had to withdraw in vain, and the Indian government broke off diplomatic relations with Uganda in anger over the matter.
However, the withdrawal of tens of thousands of Asian residents not only did not bring improvement to the lives of Ugandans, but also paralyzed Ugandan business. The businesses left behind by the Indians were assigned by Amin to his cronies, but these people simply could not run the business, and the businesses they took over went bankrupt, not even a match could be bought on the streets of the capital Kampala, and government revenues plummeted by 40 percent.
After the ineffective looting of Asians, in order to solve the government’s financial problems, Amin actually dared to take the risk of Africa and confiscated all British businesses in Uganda.
Great Britain never thought that the warlords they supported would turn against themselves in the end!
Amin himself did not have good feelings towards Band Britain, he knew that Britain was only using him and always wanted to find an opportunity to get rid of British influence. After the confiscation of British businesses, the United Kingdom and the United States withdrew their diplomatic staff and cut off trade.
After the withdrawal of the British, Amin began to be more reckless crazy milk Britain, he announced his victory over Britain, to himself as “the conqueror of the British Empire”, and at the same time, as a fine Sue, he also sealed himself as “the last king of Scotland”, to the British government to send a letter, asking him to become the head of the British Commonwealth.
Later, Amin slowly became addicted to the matter of breast Britain. He actually wrote to the Queen of England saying: “Your Majesty, do you want to know what a real man is? Then please come to Kampala, our capital.” When the Queen of England celebrated her birthday, he wrote to her again and asked her to send him her used underwear.
In addition to Breast Britain, he claimed that Uganda was the center of the earth and suggested that the United Nations move its headquarters to Uganda. For this, no one in Uganda would point out the mistake anymore. Because Amin considered intellectuals to be against him, Ugandan teachers and professors died and fled, and the only university, McRae University, was empty, Amin granted himself the position of professor of geography at McRae University, and no one knew geography better than Amin.
Diplomacy of the Boxer
While insulting Britain, Amin did not forget to rain on the parade. He sent a proposal to China to mediate the Sino-Soviet conflict by himself. He wrote to Nixon, hoping that Nixon would make a comeback after Watergate, saying that Uganda would always support his brother, etc.
The reason why Amin dared to fire his guns globally was that he thought he had hugged the big brother.
After breaking off diplomatic relations with Britain and the United States, Amin got closer and closer to the Soviet Union. In the 1970s, when the Soviet Union was at the height of its power, Big Brother gave Uganda a lot of weapons and sent instructors to teach them, with the result that the quality of the Ugandan army left a deep psychological shadow on the Soviet instructors. They found that apart from the AK47, Ugandan soldiers could not learn to use any weapons at all. Later, they simply gave up and copied themselves in the process of Uganda’s counterinsurgency.
The reason why the Soviet Union is willing to assist Uganda may also be not unrelated to Amin himself. In addition to boxing, Amin had a special hobby in his life – medals. As a soldier, he loves to wear all kinds of medals and wears a bulletproof vest when participating in activities, so as a soul mate, why the Soviet Union is willing to assist Uganda, I do not need to say the reason, right?
But Amin just hug the Soviet Union’s thighs is not possible, because Big Brother guns are available, the money is not given. In order to ask for money, Uganda needs to find a new gold master, so who has money?
Gaddafi!
Gaddafi has always been an ambitious man who wants to unite the Arab world. But no one in the Arab world was hanging him, so he had to look to Africa. Amin is a Muslim, in order to get aid, Amin and Gaddafi very close, while through Gaddafi and Bokassa formed a deep friendship, plus he originally had a good relationship with Mobutu, the four kings of Africa to achieve a dream linkage.
In order to show his solidarity with the Islamic world, Amin began to fire heavily on Israel. In fact, he originally had a good relationship with Israel, and his rise to power also had a lot to do with Israel’s support, and by definition should not be anti-Israel, but they gave really too much. Amin, in order to nab his name, praised Hitler’s massacre of the Jews in public and wanted the Islamic countries to unite together in a plan to destroy Israel in 24 hours. Immediately after the Munich tragedy, Amin took the position that he would welcome the transfer of Palestinian terrorists to Uganda.
The history of Israel in the 20th century is the history of going from one siege to another, and Israel has long been trained to be steamed and hammered as a brass pea, and doesn’t care much about Amin’s comments, let him mouth off as he pleases. But Amin’s anti-Israeli attitude did receive results, the Saudi aid to Uganda a lot of money, became Uganda’s big money maker.
In order to please his own sugar daddy, once the Saudi King Faisal visited Uganda. In order to entertain Faisal, Amin actually sent several beautiful women wearing super short skirts to entertain him. King Faisal is a very serious politician, shouted to: do not let them near me! Amin was so frightened that he quickly apologized and immediately ordered all Ugandan women not to wear super short skirts.
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Two years later, Amin ordered that cosmetics and wigs be banned in Uganda because someone told him that wigs were made by Americans from the hair of black people who died in the Vietnam War. Then he banned sandals again, I don’t know who he listened to, forcing two unlucky sandal-wearers to eat their own shoes.
If it were only Zuan diplomacy, the mouth of the gun against the words, it would be fine, the 20th century around the mouth of the man is not only one Amin, but the problem is that he is not just talking, he really dare to do.
On June 27, 1976, an Air France flight from Athens carrying 258 passengers, 105 of whom were of Israeli nationality, was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. The plane eventually rolled over and landed at Entebbe Airport in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where Amin was kind enough to receive the terrorists and the unlucky passengers. The terrorists made a condition to Israel to release the arrested members of the PLO around the globe.
Israel used every diplomatic effort in hopes of freeing the hostages, but all were rejected by Amin. A desperate Israel orchestrated a legendary level of special operations. They rebuilt a mock Entebbe airport in Israel and had special forces repeatedly drill the plan to free the hostages.
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Finally, on July 4, 1976, more than two hundred Israeli special forces landed at Entebbe Airport after an eight-hour flight in four C130s, traveling more than 4,000 kilometers and pretending to be civilian aircraft, under the patronage of Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. It took less than 10 minutes to eliminate dozens of Ugandan soldiers and terrorists who had hijacked the plane, freeing all the hostages and then quickly withdrawing, as well as blowing up 11 Ugandan MiGs in the airport, eliminating the entire Ugandan air force.
The entire operation lasted only 53 minutes and is a legend in the history of special operations in the world. This operation is one of the most famous highlight moments in Israeli history, and you can search for Operation Israel Thunder for those interested.
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By the way, the only Israeli soldier killed in this operation was Lt. Lieutenant Colonel Netanyahu, who was the commander of the operation, was killed by stray machine gun fire. His brother, the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu.
After the operation, Amin strongly condemned Israel in a phone call with Israel for coming to cheat and steal from my fifty-year-old president, but at the end of the call, he said, “As a professional soldier, I have to say that the Israeli boys did a damn good job!” .
The success of the Entebbe rescue operation has left Amin in a position of prestige in the Islamic State. To show his determination to stand with the Islamic State, Amin himself shot Archbishop Lu’uma of the Ugandan diocese in 1977.
The end of the tyrant
While Amin played the clown in the international arena, he committed more sins at Home than ever before.
Since the government could not plan anything, Uganda’s finances collapsed completely, and Amin handled it simply – money, paper, just print it! Under his rule, the Inflation rate in Uganda was increasing every year, and with the massive bankruptcy of enterprises, the economy was in shambles. At the same time, the U.S. refused to import Ugandan coffee in order to combat the Amin regime, which made the already difficult Ugandan economy even worse.
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But beyond the economic collapse, what Amin is best known for is his brutal rule. The “purest son of the African land” had one word for anyone who dared to oppose him – kill. From 1971 to 1979, he killed between 300,000 and 500,000 Ugandans in a short span of eight years. Many tribes that opposed him were exterminated by him.
When Amin executed his opponents, he would strip the prisoners naked and then gouge out their eyes, forcing all the surrounding residents to watch as they shot the prisoners. Amin himself would happily play the accordion during the executions, drinking heavily while watching the executioners torture the prisoners.
Amin showed no mercy to his enemies, his men, or even his family. His officers and ministers were often executed for a word that displeased him, and he executed almost all of his experienced officers in just five months after coming to power. One of his wives was dismembered by him for cheating, and the body had to be shown to his children to warn them that this was what would happen if they disobeyed him.
I can’t bear to tell you more about Amin’s cannibalism and other horrible rumors. Whether Amin’s cannibalism was true or not, the Ugandans believed it anyway. After several years of atrocities, Amin has become a character like Zhang Liao in Uganda, and Parents will say when scaring their children – cry again, cry again and Amin will eat you.
We do not know where Amin’s confidence comes from, because Tanzania is not to be messed with, he also has a teacher – China.
Tanzania has always had good relations with China, and China has given them a lot of assistance in the process of development of the Tanzanian country. The Tanzanian army is trained by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with J7 aircraft, 59 tanks and Katyusha rocket launchers.
However, in recent years, many people blow the Tanzanian army as “East African Liberation Army”, which is really an exaltation of them. African troops can not bring out has become a consensus of the five permanent, although the Tanzanian army after the PLA’s efforts to train, but also learned only the most basic infantry artillery synergy, the so-called “driving pressure can not be their own” level of infantry-tank synergy in actual combat is not very meaningful, technical and tactical level is still vegetable gouge. But with this level of tactics, Hammer Uganda is still very sufficient.
Under Amin’s brutal rule, a large number of Ugandans fled the country, and many anti-Amin groups were established abroad. Former President Obote had a close personal relationship with Tanzanian President Nyerere, and after Obote was overthrown, he ran to Tanzania to gather his old troops and plotted to kill back to Uganda.
In 1978, international coffee prices plummeted and the Ugandan economy was hit hard. And at this time, the traditional artistry was back within the Ugandan regime, and Amin’s vice president, Adris, was gradually expanding in power and threatening Amin. So in May 1978, a very suspicious “traffic accident” left the Vice President seriously injured and sent abroad for treatment by Amin, who also stripped him of all his duties.
This coup made the Vice President’s men extremely afraid, they felt that Heavenly Father had killed Heavenly Brother, and that the kingdom would not be defeated, and that Amin was not the rightful owner, and would remain with the Ao Gong. After the coup, the Vice President’s men turned out en masse, and Amin sent troops to suppress them, but they were repelled by a combination of anti-Amin refugees and rebels. Seeing the serious intensification of domestic conflicts, Amin decided to take the sword and crusade against Tanzania to divert the conflicts.
It is said that the dictators in Africa do not have the numbers in their hearts, they do not know what the state of the country is, how dare they start a war?
On October 30, 1978, Amin declared war on Tanzania and ordered the army to invade the Kagera region of Tanzania. Tanzania was unprepared and defeated. A few days later, Kagera district fell completely. Ugandan troops burned and looted the area, which had a total population of just 50,000, and at least 8,000 people were killed by the Ugandan army. Amin provocatively said that he was willing to settle with President Nyerere of Tanzania in the ring, and considering Nyerere’s old age and frailty, he was willing to tie both feet and one hand, and if Nyerere defeated his remaining hand, the Ugandan army would withdraw from Tanzania.
At the beginning of the Ugandan war, Tanzania was first hoping for international mediation. But after the countries made a wall about it, President Nyerere immediately stopped this Chiang Kung behavior and instead made a general mobilization at home.
“If you don’t mind, can you send me a pair of your original 25-year-old underpants that you have worn?” The photo shows a publicity photo of the Queen and Amin at the Great Britain Association Summit in 1973. Photo／Wikimedia Commons
Within a few weeks, the Tanzanian army exploded from 40,000 to 100,000 troops, with militia reserves, police and even prison guards on board. The Ugandan offensive was soon held off, and by December 1978, the Ugandan army was completely expelled from Tanzanian soil.
The Tanzanian army’s tactics were developed by Chinese advisors. The Chinese advisors were well aware of the technical level of the Tanzanian army and therefore developed an extremely conservative strategy – artillery wash, tanks in front, infantry completely behind the tanks and slowly on foot, the entire force advancing at turtle speed, fighting a line infantry style battle with 20th century weapons. But the advantage of this is that there are few casualties and not many deserters, and the Ugandan army does not know how to penetrate and encircle anyway, so the progress is slower.
In fact, under Amin’s rule, the Ugandan army, which was already not very good in fighting, was immediately defeated, and in January 1979, more than 10,000 Tanzanian troops entered Ugandan territory. Amin felt that this was the way to go and quickly asked Gaddafi for help. Gaddafi showed a rare sense of justice and quickly sent an army of more than 2,000 men to assist Uganda.
What the Libyan army did not expect was that once the Libyan army arrived, the Ugandan army was as if it had been pardoned, so there was a topper now. The Ugandan army withdrew to the rear with the looted belongings, leaving the Libyan army to die in the front line. The problem is that the Libyan army is not very good, they have the Soviet Tu22 strategic bombers such as the big killers, but several times but did not bomb even one target. In fact, the entire African army is almost at this level, and there are very few high ranking players, so one must feel sorry for the excellent matching mechanism of the African region.
The addition of the Libyan army could not save Uganda either. The Tanzanian army finally advanced at turtle speed to the outskirts of Kampala, the capital of Uganda, by the end of March 1979, and on March 27, Amin saw that the situation was over and fled Kampala.
Amin left the capital and retreated to Jinja, Uganda’s second largest city, where he was soon followed by Tanzanian troops, leaving him with four wives, several mistresses and more than 20 children in exile in Libya, then Iraq, and finally Saudi Arabia.
The Ugandan war that overthrew Amin’s regime lasted nearly half a year, from late October 1978 to early April 1979. Both sides mobilized nearly 200,000 people and deployed various heavy equipment including tanks, rocket launchers, strategic bombers, etc. The Tanzanian treasury was wiped out, and the final casualty count after the war showed that Tanzania lost 373 men, Uganda lost up to 1,000, and Libya lost up to 600. The Ugandan army collapsed at a battle loss of but 1.3%.
In other words, this great bloody battle involving 200,000 men and using heavy artillery bombers would kill almost ten men a day on average. Compared with the African army, the Beiyang warlords were really a division of steel capable of fighting hard battles.
After the fall of the Amin regime, Uganda also did not get peace, the territory is still a continuous civil war, the country is poor. It was not until 1986 that Museveni, who had been fighting guerrilla war with the Maoist election, came to power with a gun, and Uganda finally had a rare peace.
Museveni’s rule is hardly successful, but Uganda has at least maintained peace and stability for decades in his hands, and the economic and social undertakings have also developed to a certain extent, so at least a normal person is ruling the country.
After fleeing Uganda, Amin was eventually accepted by Saudi Arabia and settled in the country with dozens of children. The Saudi government covered all his expenses on the condition that he would never get involved in politics. In 2003, Amin died in a Saudi hospital at the age of 78 due to High blood pressure, and this is the end of Amin’s story, so let’s pooh-pooh it.
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