You don’t get a nickname like the Butcher of Uganda without unleashing some serious horrors on mankind, and the atrocities committed by Idi Amin were undeniably horrific. Idi Amin seized power in Uganda in 1971 and viciously ruled for eight years. The list of crimes committed by Idi Amin includes ethnic persecution, political repression, extrajudicial executions, and torture.
Many political rivals suffered his wrath, but some of the worst things done by Idi Amin were done to his own people. He launched an economic war, and citizens of Uganda were exiled or imprisoned, beaten, and tortured without cause. There is no way to know for sure how many lives he took, but it is believed to be around 100,000. He was finally ousted by Ugandan nationalists in 1979, and he managed to flee the country intact. He remained in exile, living in Saudi Arabia, where he perished from multiple organ failures in 2003.
He Claimed To Be A Cannibal
Amin was rumored to have kept some of his victim’s heads in his refrigerator and eaten human body parts. His former health minister, Henry Kyemba, said that “on several occasions [Amin] told me quite proudly that he had eaten the organs or flesh of his human victims.”
He was quoted as saying, “It’s not for me. I tried human flesh and it’s too salty for my taste” (though it’s unclear if he was speaking ironically at the time).
He Built An Underground Prison With A Torture Chamber And An Electrified Moat
Amin’s infamous prison and torture chamber was constructed by Israelis in the 1970s by a crew that believed the building was going to be used as an armory. The underground cement caves were intended to store gunpowder, not people.
The entrance was electrified and the chambers themselves were surrounded by a channel of electrified water. The chambers were dark, full of vomit, blood, and feces, and each held hundreds of people. Prisoners would suffocate as oxygen would run out as bodies piled up inside the cells, many victims perished of starvation, and some chose to end their suffering and take their own lives by jumping into the electrified water.
His Violent Spree Shifted From Those Who Posed Political Threats To Innocent Civilians
In addition to having his political rivals and government officials taken out, he also turned on ordinary civilians: farmers, students, and even religious figures, including the archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Janani Luwum.
Amin sent his men out to gun people down and sometimes they’d force their victims to club one another. Another cruel method Amin employed was having people beaten with sledgehammers.
He Uprooted 80,000 Asian Citizens And Removed Their Livelihoods
Amin decided to eradicate the entire Asian population from Uganda in 1972 (or rather, he claimed God told him to do this). He gave 80,000 South Asians (even those born in Uganda) 90 days to get out or suffer violent consequences. They could take only what they could carry and all 4,000 of their shops were confiscated and given to Amin’s buddies – who, of course, ran those businesses into the ground.
This contributed greatly to the breakdown of the country’s economy. Among those tossed out of Uganda were medical doctors, dentists, teachers, veterinarians, and technicians, further crippling Uganda’s medical industry, education system, and economy as a whole.
He Flew Into Violent Moods And Took Out Members Of His Staff At A Whim
Amin would fly into rages and order the execution of employees and staff members who displeased him, often claiming they were the victims of “accidents.” The Telegraph reports:
One former Amin employee, Frank Kalimazo, was attending his daughter’s wedding when he was informed that his demise had been announced on the radio. He was part of an administrative backlog.
On another occasion, Amin telephoned the wife of Robert Astles, an English emigre who became infamous for his intimacy with the dictator, to offer his regret for the accidental death of her husband and to tell her that she could collect the body from the city morgue. In fact, Astles had evaded the intended assassination.
It was one of four occasions when, bored of his company, Amin ordered his death. Years later, having finally returned alive to Wimbledon, Astles, himself a most unpleasant individual, said survival under Amin largely involved staying out of sight until he was in a better mood.
He Executed People For Treason With No Proof Of Guilt
During Amin’s reign of terror, he felt it was his duty to punish all adversaries, even if those enemies were completely imaginary and he had no real reason to suspect any wrongdoing. Amin would order public executions by firing squad for anyone he felt was plotting against his regime and even had them televised.
He’d have his victims’ bodies tossed in the Nile, literally creating a bloodbath: Bodies were constantly seen floating down the Nile from Uganda. At times, a dam on Lake Victoria would be so clogged by bodies that it would cause power outages.
Amin Was On A Mission To Squash The Educated
Amin was practically illiterate, he had only a fourth-grade education, and he felt especially threatened by educated Africans.
So instead of seeking education or putting intelligent, capable people in positions of power to better serve the country, he simply wiped out most of the intellectual class.
He Had A Thing For Hitler And Spoke Fondly Of Him
Between the eradication of the Asian population and his apparent love for mass genocide, Amin had quite a lot in common with Adolf Hitler.
He didn’t shy away from speaking highly of the German dictator in public, saying he was “right to burn six million Jews.”
He Took The Life Of A 74-Year-Old Grandma
A 74-year-old British woman named Dora Bloch was on an Air France flight from Athens to Paris that was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists and forced to land at Entebbe Airport, Uganda, in 1976. Israeli commandos ended up slaying the terrorists and half of Amin’s air force while rescuing the hostages. It’s widely believed that Amin took out his frustration and humiliation on Dora Bloch, who went missing after being taken into a hospital in Kampala.
An informant said Bloch had been shot and tossed into a car with Ugandan intelligence services plates. Her body was found in a sugar plantation about 19 miles from the capital. Her face had been badly burned in attempts to make identification difficult.
Amin denied any involvement, but it’s always been widely believed that he was lashing out at the only Jew he had access to. The British soon broke off all diplomatic relations with Uganda.
He Was A Polygamist Who Allegedly Took The Life Of His Fourth Wife
Amin had six wives and is believed to have fathered more than 30 children throughout his lifetime. His fourth wife, Kay Amin, married the dictator in 1966 despite the fact that he was already married. Kay was allegedly disloyal to Amin and was discovered to be pregnant by another man.
The two divorced in 1973 and Kay’s horribly mutilated and dismembered body was found the very next year. Her autopsy revealed she was three to four months pregnant at the time.
Despite The Horrors He Committed, He Had Nothing But Admiration For Himself
While political leaders across the world referred to Amin as a “buffoon” and a “madman,” Amin had his own title for himself – one tailored to fit his ego. He somehow kept a straight face and named himself:
His Excellency, President of Uganda, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji, Doctor Idi Amin, VC, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.
No, seriously, this ridiculous paragraph-length rant was his actual title.
He never repented for any of his crimes, or expressed any regrets for what he had done.
