Idi Amin takes power in Uganda
One week after toppling the regime of Ugandan leader Milton Obote Major General Idi Amin declares himself president of Uganda and chief of the armed forces.Amin head of the Ugandan army and air force since 1966 seized power while Obote was out of the country.Ruling directly Amin soon revealed himself as an extreme nationalist and tyrant.In 1972 he launched a genocidal program to purge Uganda of its Lango and Acholi ethnic groups.
Later that year he ordered all Asians to leave the country and some 60000 Indians and Pakistanis fled thrusting Uganda into economic collapse.A Muslim he reversed Ugandas friendly relations with Israel and sought closer ties with Libya and the Palestinians.In 1976 he made himself president for life and stepped up his suppression of various ethnic groups and political opponents in the military and elsewhere.In 1978 Amin invaded Tanzania in an attempt to annex the Kagera region and divert attention from Ugandas internal problems.
In 1979 Tanzania launched a successful counteroffensive with the assistance of the Uganda National Liberation Front a coalition of various armed Ugandan exiles.Amin and his government fled the country and Obote returned from exile to reassume the Ugandan presidency.Amin received asylum from Saudi Arabia.
He is believed to have been responsible for the murder of as many as 300000 Ugandans though he never stood trial for his crimes.Amin died on August 16 2003 in Saudi Arabia.
