Amin who?
2003-08-17 08:34
Kampala, Uganda - For many Ugandans, the death of former dictator Idi Amin severed the last link to an era best forgotten: eight years of brutal rule defined by the deaths of up to 300 000 people and the memory of thousands of hastily disposed bodies floating in Lake Victoria.
But 25 years after he went into exile, some found it galling that Amin was never punished for bringing so much misery to what had been a prosperous country. He never expressed remorse and whiled away his later years fishing and taking strolls on the beach in Saudi Arabia.
"He should have lived longer to repent. He's now gone, he's dead, and it's beyond our human control; but he's going to face eternal judgment," said the Reverend Alfred Ocur, an Anglican priest in the central town of Lira.
Amin died at 08:20 in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, where he had sought exile after his government was ousted in 1979. He had been on life support since July 18 and had suffered kidney failure. He was believed to be 80.
A source close to Amin's family said the former dictator was buried in Jiddah's Ruwais cemetery after sunset prayers on Saturday.
Although the front pages of Uganda papers were splashed with headlines proclaiming "Idi Amin is Dead", reaction was muted. The last 25 years saw a generation of Ugandans grow up with no memory of Amin.
'Good'
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's office said Amin's death was "good".
"His death and burial will signal the end of our bad past," said presidential spokesperson Oonapito Ekonioloit.
Museveni, elected in 1996, has tried in recent years to promote unity and stability by encouraging the country to condemn Amin's violent era. Last year, Uganda officially celebrated his downfall for the first time, and the government has welcomed back those he expelled.
"We have no grudges against Amin because his era has ended," said Dalal Murtaza, the 44-year-old chairman of Uganda's 15 000-member Indian Association. "Now it's history because he is dead, and there's no point having grudges against a dead man."
A former boxing champion and British-trained soldier, Amin rose rapidly to the top of the Ugandan army after independence in 1962 and seized power on Jan. 25, 1971, ousting President Milton Obote. Ugandans initially welcomed him as a relief from Obote's dictatorship, and Amin's frequent taunting of Britain, the former colonial power, played well at home and across the continent.
Brutality
But his name soon became synonymous with brutality and misrule. In 1972, Amin expelled tens of thousands of ethnic Indians who dominated the country's economy. While the move was initially popular, the eviction of most of its entrepreneurs plunged Uganda into economic chaos.
"His body should be brought back to Uganda and put on display for people to view somebody who killed so many people," said Michael Mademaga, 41, an office messenger who said Amin's agents killed his uncle in 1974 and dumped him in the Nile River east of Kampala.
There are no official records, but rights groups say his regime killed from 100 000 to 300 000 people. Bodies were dumped into Lake Victoria and Nile because graves couldn't be dug fast enough.
David Owen, Britain's Foreign Secretary from 1976 to 1979, said he had suggested assassinating Amin when he was in government.
"I actually at one stage did raise the issue of assassination and it was not just frowned on but looked on as an outrageous suggestion," Owen told British Broadcasting Corp radio.
On Saturday, Amin's widow in Saudi Arabia, Nalongo Madina Amin, called the private Ugandan radio station, Central Broadcasting Service, to announce his death.
In Kampala, one of his sons, Ali Amin Ramadhan, 40, said: "I am very sad and confused."
- AP