August 16: On This Day in World History … briefly
As Amin's rule progressed into the late 1970s, there was increased unrest against his persecution of certain ethnic groups and political dissidents, along with Uganda's very poor international standing due to Amin's support for the terrorist hijackers in Operation Entebbe.
2003: ‘Butcher of Uganda’ dies
Notorious former Ugandan president Idi Amin died aged 78. Amin gained control of Uganda in 1971 after overthrowing the government in a military coup and soon after announced plans to expel 50 000 Asians from Uganda.
By 1977, he was under increasing pressure from around the world amid accusations of mass murder, including that of the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda. He headed a bloody incursion into Tanzania the following year, but fled from his country a few months later when 45 000 Tanzanian troops invaded Uganda in revenge, ending his regime of terror.
On July 19, 2003, Amin’s fourth wife Nalongo Madina reported that he was in a coma and near death at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from kidney failure. She pleaded with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to allow him to return to Uganda for the remainder of his life.
Museveni replied that Amin would have to ‘answer for his sins the moment he was brought back’. Amin’s family eventually decided to disconnect life support and Amin consequently died at the hospital in Jeddah on August 16, 2003. He was buried in Ruwais Cemetery in Jeddah in a simple grave, without any fanfare.
After Amin’s death, David Owen revealed that when he was the British Foreign Secretary, he had proposed having Amin assassinated. He 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”.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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