– (Eduardo Belga/)
1. Son of a woman who considered herself a witch, Idi Amin was born in Uganda between 1924 and 1925 – the exact date and city are unknown. As a young man, he enlisted in the British Army, which at the time dominated this country in central Africa.
2. In the Army, he was a successful sportsman and won nine titles as a boxer. He also fought against rebels in Somalia and Kenya, and in 1954 he was promoted to effendithe highest military rank a black could reach at the time.
3. In 1962, Uganda became an independent country, and four years later, Idi Amin he was named leader of the Army and Navy by President Milton Obote. In 1971, he staged a coup d’état under Obote and declared himself president for life.
4. His rule was brutal. Idi Amin formed a group of advisors that acted like a militia, eliminating real and imaginary opponents of the dictator. It is estimated that around 300,000 people were murdered on his orders.
5. Atrocities also played out in family life. Kay Aminone of several wives of the dictator, was found dead, with her whole body mutilated, after trying to have an abortion. Idi Amin he would have discovered that Kay had cheated on him with a lover.
6. He once wrote a letter to the British Queen Elizabeth II saying that if she wanted to meet a real man, she just had to visit him in Uganda… After breaking off diplomatic relations with the British, he proclaimed himself “King of Scotland”. . (In 2007, the biopic The Last King of Scotlandabout Idi Amin, earned Forest Whitaker an Oscar for best actor).
7. He terrified the population so much that there were rumors – never confirmed – that Idi Amin kept body parts of his victims to practice cannibalism. What is certain is that he has plunged Uganda into chaos during his eight years in power.
What end did it take?
In 1979, troops from Tanzania – invaded by the dictator – and Ugandan rebels forced the exile of Amin. He died of multiple organ failure in Saudi Arabia in 2003.