Idi Amin Dada: End of a charismatic African despot

Obote was speaking about General Idi Amin Dada and was reassuring his two friends of his pious wish and good intention. But the very next day, without awaiting return of the President, the General made a pre-emptive strike, revolutionised the country, dismissed President Obote and assumed all powers. Obote got the news on his way back home at New Delhi and later took refuge in friendly Tanzania. Besides the self-styled Emperor Bokassa of Central African Republic, who once informed his cabinet members at a banquet that they had just been fed on their missing cabinet colleague, very few African leaders evoked both awe and fun as did His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, 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. This was the official title Idi Amin granted himself. His eight years of tyrannic rule witnessed blatant violation of human rights, driving of seventy thousand Uganda's Asian population away from their home and hearth, death and torture of tens of thousands of civilian and army personnel and generation of huge fun and frolics also at his own expense. He once made the British High Commissioner and some others to carry him in a chair placed on a makeshift shaft, and offered goats to Britain as Uganda's contribution to the ailing British economy.

After having assumed power, Idi Amin turned to Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Soviet leadership for support. He succeeded in getting the valuable co-operation, for some time and to some extent, of such resourceful and powerful allies. But such help was sporadic and short-lived. He, on his part, offered assistance to Yasser Arafat on the Arab-Israeli conflict. But, it represented more of a moral support than of substance. Some people regarded him as a leader of the movement for independence of African nations. He ridiculed the West, Britain in particular, and strived to assume leadership of the African continent. He partially succeeded and became President of the Organisation of African Unity, despite opposition from a number of stalwarts among African leadership.

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Idi Amin Dada was born in a small Muslim tribal family in Uganda in 1925. He joined the ranks of the British Army and rose to the position of Sergeant Major and later to that of Effendi, the highest position that an African could attain in the King's African Rifles, the African Army of the British Raj. Following independence, he was promoted, in quick succession, by President Milton Obote, up to the rank of General. His greatest folly was in 1978 to invade the northern part of Tanzania, which sent Army and, with the support of the rebels and the disgruntled, captured capital Kampala. Idi Amin fled to Libya and finally took refuge in Saudi Arabia where he

breathed his last on 16 August this year. Thus ended, though disliked and criticised by many, the career of a gregarious and charismatic figure of the African continent.

So far as Bangladesh was concerned, Idi Amin's attitude was positive. In July 1972, the late Ambassador Mirza Rashid Ahmed was sent to Africa as Prime Minister's Special Envoy to solicit political recognition of Bangladesh from African nations. Ambassador Ahmed had an audience with President Idi Amin. The latter listened to the Envoy and asked him how he could expect to recognise a people who had long association with the power that had sucked blood and exploited the African people? The Envoy replied to say that the same power who had sucked blood and exploited African nations, also had done the same to the people of Bangladesh. The President pondered, but did not reply. The Envoy returned to his hotel -- grim, thoughtful and a bit disappointed, being apprehensive of a failed mission. No sooner than he entered the hotel entrance, the Manager of the hotel came forward with a big grin and congratulated him warmly. The Manager had just heard over state radio that Uganda had recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign, independent nation.

I should not end this brief story of the life of this much discussed despot without recounting one episode. It was February 1974. Lahore, the venue of the Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, was bristling with delegates from member Muslim states all over the world. The occasion was memorable because of the mutual recognition of Bangladesh and Pakistan brokered by an OIC delegation led by the then Kuwaiti Foreign Minister (now Prime Minister) Shaikh Jaber al Ahmed al Sabah. It took place on 22 February, on the eve of the OIC Summit. As a Director General in the Foreign Office, I recall vividly the prolonged and tiresome negotiations. While Bhutto reluctantly agreed to recognise Bangladesh, he found it unnecessary for Bangladesh to recognise Pakistan. But Sheikh Mujib was insistent. Finally, it was about 3 O'clock in the morning that the agreement on mutual recognition was concluded. It was also decided that within the next few hours the Bangladesh Prime Minister would lead the first ever delegation to the truncated Pakistan to attend the OIC Summit, traveling in the same special plane of Shaikh Jaber. On landing at the Lahore airport, we were in for a big surprise. On the welcoming red carpet was standing, besides Prime Minister Bhutto and next to him, Defence Minister General Tikka Khan, commonly known as the butcher of Bangladesh. He was also waiting to greet Sheikh Mujib. It was a grave decision for the Bangladesh Prime Minister to respond positively and extend hand for greetings.

However, one of the most interesting and noteworthy occurrence in the Summit was an intervention made by President Idi Amin. In one of the sessions, Idi Amin rose from his seat, got permission of the President of the session Prime Minister Bhutto, and made an announcement. The Ugandan President declared that he had been able to make a special investigation through his intelligence sources and found that the 93,000 Pakistani troops, who had surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December 1971, were no longer in Bangladesh but quartered in India. He thought he had made a profound statement and furnished some hitherto-unknown information to the participants. He actually paused for a while, awaiting applause. On the contrary, there was a pin drop silence. An incredible ignorance on the part of the Ugandan Head of State was exposed. This was followed by loud laughter and jest. The President of the session, Bhutto, also burst out in laughter and even the stony-faced King Faisal, whose smile was a great rarity and witnessed only by the fortunate few, laughed with shoulders shaking. It was because of the fact that the delegates were at that very moment discussing the issue of the Pakistani war prisoners, who had been transferred to India since over a year ago and bulk of whom had already been repatriated to Pakistan. It was an interesting and unforgettable episode, indeed.

M.M.Rezaul Karim, a former Ambassador, is a member of BNP's Advisory Council.