President idi amin biography books
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In 1962 Amin helped stop cattle rustling, or stealing, between neighboring ethnic groups in Karamoja, Uganda, and Turkana, Kenya. He was brought up by his mother, who abandoned his father to move to Lugazi, Uganda. With forty tribes living in different regions and occupying different social positions, Uganda was divided into tribal alliances, and tribal leaders held genuine authority, unlike the official government.
He embraced Islam and attained a fourth-grade education. During his tenure, he lived a lavish lifestyle while contributing to the collapse of Uganda’s economy.
Trying to stay in power
Amin used violence and terror to eliminate his real and imaginary enemies.
Amin fled to Libya, but he later moved to Jidda, Saudi Arabia.
However, his actions caused dissatisfaction among various tribes, leading to Amin's ascent to power.
Amin's Rise to Power
Amin, a representative of the Kakwa tribe, was considered an outsider due to his rural background and Islamic faith. It is unclear why Obote promoted Amin in 1970 to become chief of general staff, a position that gave him access to every aspect of the armed forces.
He first subdued the rebellious Buganda tribe, claiming that he warned King Freddie about the impending attack and helped him escape. Amin, with his imposing figure of 125 kilograms and almost two meters tall, was a champion boxer and a physically superior officer in the army. Eventually, Amin became the second most powerful person in the country, displaying deep loyalty to the government.
Milton Obote, the first prime minister of the country, aimed to unite Uganda into a cohesive nation and give it a more "civilized" character. Obote instead publicly criticized him, deciding it would have been politically unwise to put on trial one of the two African officers just before Uganda was to gain independence from Britain on October 9, 1962.
He was promoted to corporal in 1949.
He established a secret police organization called the State Research Bureau, which carried out assassinations, torture, and investigations. It was becoming clear that Amin's seeming friendliness and clowning were only a mask to hide his brutality. Boston: Little, Brown, 1977. However, he was uneducated and had difficulty reading and writing.
He sought to stay in power at all costs, resulting in extensive human rights violations via mass killings. The legacy of Idi Amin remains a dark chapter in Uganda's history, symbolizing the horrors of authoritarianism and the consequences of tribal conflicts.
Idi Amin
“[T]his sharply written, forensically researched book...succeeds as a meticulous re-examination of Amin’s life, producing a narrative packed with original evidence, and one that strives at all times to be scrupulously well balanced.