Idi Amin Dada ruled the country of Uganda with an iron fist. One of the infamous dictator’s antics that would be long remembered is his plan to invade the Israelis.
His inability to deal with political matters in a civil manner was highlighted in 1972 when he asked Israel for money and
arms to help fight Tanzania. When Israel refused his request, he turned to Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who promised to give him what he wanted.
Amin then ordered the expulsion of 500 Israelis and 50,000 South Asians with British citizenship. As Israel had undertaken several large building projects, and Uganda’s Asian population consisted of many successful plantation and business owners, the expulsions led to a dramatic economic downturn in Uganda.
All of these developments soured Amin’s international image. But he didn’t seem to care. By the mid-1970s, the Ugandan dictator grew increasingly erratic, repressive, and corrupt. He routinely changed his personnel, altered travel schedules and modes of transportation, and slept in different places whenever he could.
More importantly, Amin continued to oversee the murder of an increasing number of his countrymen. Tens of thousands of Ugandans continued to be violently killed on ethnic, political, and financial grounds.
His methods of murder became increasingly sadistic. Rumours spread that he kept human heads in his refrigerator. He reportedly ordered 4,000 disabled pe
ople to be thrown into the Nile to be torn apart by crocodiles. And he confessed to cannibalism on several occasions: “I have eaten human meat,” he said in 1976. “It is very salty, even more salty than leopard meat.”
In June 1976, Amin made one of his most infamous decisions by aiding Palestinian and leftists militants who hijacked an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris.
A strong critic of Israel, he allowed the terrorists to land in Entebbe airport in Uganda and provided them with troops and supplies as they held 246 passenger
s and 12 crew members hostage.
But instead of giving up, Israel sent a team of elite commandos to rescue the hostages in a surprise attack on Entebbe airport during the night of July 3.
In what turned out to be one of the most daring and successful rescue missions in history, 101 of 105 remaining hostages were liberated. Only one Israeli soldier lost his life du
ring the operation, while all seven hijackers and 20 Ugandan soldiers were killed.
After an embarrassing turn of events, Amin ordered the execution of one of the hostages, a 74-year-old British-Israeli woman who had fallen ill during the hostage crisis and was being treated in a Uganda hospital.
British documents released in 2017 revealed that the woman, Dora Bloch, was “dragged” from her hospital bed “screaming,” shot to death, and dumped into the trunk of a government car. The body of a white woma
n was later found on a sugar plantation 19 miles away, but the body was too burnt and disfigured to identify.
Amin’s senseless retaliation further worsened his international image and highlighted his increasingly erratic behaviour. This was made worse by his god-like description of himself:
“His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, 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 Part
icular.”
