Amin (Dada Oumee), Idi

(born 1924/25, Koboko, Ugan.—died Aug. 16, 2003, Jiddah, Saud.Ar.) Military officer and president (1971–79) of Uganda. A member of the small Kakwa ethnic group and a Muslim, he was closely associated during his military career with Milton Obote, Uganda's first prime minister and president. In 1971 he staged a coup against Obote. He expelled all Asians from Uganda in 1972, reversed Uganda's amicable relations with Israel, was personally involved in the hijacking by Palestinian and West German militants of a French airliner to Entebbe (see Entebbe raid), and ordered the torture and murder of 100,000–300,000 Ugandans. In 1978 he ordered an attack on Tanzania, but Tanzanian troops, aided by Ugandan nationalists, were able to overpower the invaders. As the Tanzanian-led forces neared Kampala, Uganda's capital, Amin fled to Libya and eventually settled in Saudi Arabia.

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