Idi Amin

The first serious full-length biography of modern Africa's most famous dictator "Sharply written, forensically researched. . . . 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. "--Paul Kenyon, The Sunday Times, London Idi Amin began his career in the British army in colonial Uganda, and worked his way up the ranks before seizing power in a British-backed coup in 1971. He built a violent and unstable dictatorship, ruthlessly eliminating perceived enemies and expelling Uganda's Asian population as the country plunged into social and economic chaos. In this powerful and provocative new account, Mark Leopold places Amin's military background and close relationship with the British state at the heart of the story. He traces the interwoven development of Amin's career and his popular image as an almost supernaturally evil monster, demonstrating the impossibility of fully distinguishing the truth from the many myths surrounding the dictator. Using an innovative biographical approach, Leopold reveals how Amin was, from birth, deeply rooted in the history of British colonial rule, how his rise was a legacy of imperialism, and how his monstrous image was created.

There is a new power today at work in the Christian church in Uganda. It is a power that can bear up under the unpredictable whims and the savage persecution of one of the most notorious dicators of our time, Idi Amin. It is a pwoer that answers threats with reason, torture with endurance, execution with love. It is the power of the living God, released as it has been released perhaps nowhere else on earth at the present time. Festo Kivengere, one of Uganda's ighteen Anglican bishops, documents the growth of this pwoer, tracing the steadily increasing confrontation between the Christian church and the government of Idi Amin. He gives an eyewitness account of the climax of that confrontation -- the assassination of Janani Luwum, the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, on February 19, 1977. He relates his own flight from the country two days later under cover of darkness. I Love Idi Amin is the dramatic story of how God is using pain and suffering to build a new man and a new church for His glory. --

This trove of recently discovered photographs offers an unprecedented opportunity to take a closer look at Idi Amin's dictatorship and its impact on Ugandan history. Chosen from a collection of 70,000 negatives from the archive of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, the images in this remarkable collection were taken by Amin's personal photographers between the 1950s and mid-1980s. Like many dictators, Amin used photography as a means of spreading propaganda that would flatter his regime while obscuring its failures and abuses. Organized into thematic sections, these photographs show how Amin sought to gain support for acts such as his expulsion of tens of thousands of South Asians in 1972 and for the "Economic War," in which citizens charged with petty theft were tried and executed. There are also fascinating insights into the ways Amin hoped to promote Ugandan arts and culture, including a food-eating competition in Kampala and ceremonial visits to remote villages. The book includes revelatory archival documents recently unearthed concerning the Amin government. Essays by the authors, both experts in the field, help provide a context for the archive, as well as insights into how the lessons learned from this dark period of African history can shine a light towards a brighter future for Uganda and its people.

'A gripping tale of tropical corruption' Spectator 'A genuine imaginative achievement' Daily Telegraph 'As convincing and terrifying a portrait of a capricious tyrant as I have ever read' Evening Standard In an incredible twist of fate, a Scottish doctor on a Ugandan medical mission becomes irreversibly entangled with one of the world's most barbaric figures: Idi Amin. Impressed by Dr. Garrigan's brazen attitude in a moment of crisis, the newly self-appointed Ugandan President Amin hand picks him as his personal physician and closest confidante. Though Garrigan is at first flattered and fascinated by his new position, he soon awakens to Amin's savagery - and his own complicity in it. Horror and betrayal ensue as Garrigan tries to right his wrongs and escape Uganda alive.

In Idi Amin’s Shadow is a rich social history examining Ugandan women’s complex and sometimes paradoxical relationship to Amin’s military state. Based on more than one hundred interviews with women who survived the regime, as well as a wide range of primary sources, this book reveals how the violence of Amin’s militarism resulted in both opportunities and challenges for women. Some assumed positions of political power or became successful entrepreneurs, while others endured sexual assault or experienced the trauma of watching their brothers, husbands, or sons “disappeared” by the state’s security forces. In Idi Amin’s Shadow considers the crucial ways that gender informed and was informed by the ideology and practice of militarism in this period. By exploring this relationship, Alicia C. Decker offers a nuanced interpretation of Amin’s Uganda and the lives of the women who experienced and survived its violence. Each chapter begins with the story of one woman whose experience illuminates some larger theme of the book. In this way, it becomes clear that the politics of military rule were highly relevant to women and gender relations, just as the politics of gender were central to militarism. By drawing upon critical security studies, feminist studies, and violence studies, Decker demonstrates that Amin’s dictatorship was far more complex and his rule much more strategic than most observers have ever imagined.

Idi Amin ruled the East African country of Uganda from January 1971 to April 1979 when he was ousted from power by a combined force of the Tanzania Peoples' Defence Force and Ugandan exiles operating through Tanzania. He left a controversial and conflicted legacy, as depicted by Oscar-winning film star Forest Whitaker in the hit movie "The Last King of Scotland"; but have authors and filmmakers who have attempted to tell his story to date really told the whole truth? Have they delved deep enough to uncover everything there is to know about Idi Amin, everything there is to tell about him and what actually happened during his rule and after he was forced to live in exile, first in Libya and then in Saudi Arabia? "No" says his son Jaffar Amin and other people! Was Idi Amin "Framed" or "Guilty as Charged"? Was something "insidious" going on during his rule in Uganda as alleged by many? What role did racism, colonialism, neocolonialism, classism, religion, tribalism and greed play in "creating" Idi Amin? In this unprecedented series devoted to telling Idi Amin's story in its entirety and not just "selected" parts, Margaret Akulia engages his son Jaffar Amin and other people in candid "conversation" about his legacy. As the world continues to pronounce "A Guilty Verdict" on Idi Amin after "finding him guilty beyond reasonable doubt," many people are adamant in asserting that "others" and not Idi Amin committed the "mass murders" attributed to him in Uganda which begs the question: Was Idi Amin a Hero or a Villain? This is a series devoted to uncovering Idi Amin's story in its entirety, layer by layer, telling all the truth and shedding light on the untruths! Compiled and co-written by Jaffar Amin and Margaret Akulia.