April 11, 1979: The Fall of Idi Amin

April 11, 1979: The dictatorial regime of Idi Amin falls in Uganda. It should have come much earlier -- as in, before it could rise at all.

Along with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Amin is one of the last 2 major historical figures for whom we don't have an authoritative date, place, and name of birth, as records were not kept. According to members of his family, the most likely date was May 30, 1928; the most likely place was his father's workplace, the Shimoni Police Barracks in Nakasero Hill, in Kampala, the capital of Uganda both while it was a British colony and since as an independent nation; and the most likely name was Idi Amin Dada Oumee, the name "Idi" for his birth coinciding with the Muslim holiday of Eid.

In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles -- as a cook. This would give rise to rumors, spread by his opponents after he took power, that he was a cannibal who not only fed on his murder victims, but served them to others.

In 1949, he was deployed to Kenya, where his unit first fought Somali rebels; then, in 1952, Kenya's Mau Mau rebels. At the time of independence, in 1962, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant. His imposing size, 6-foot-4, allowed him to become the Colony's light heavyweight boxing champion, and he starred on a rugby team. (Plenty of dictators have exaggerated their personal sports accomplishments, but, in rugby, Amin appears to have been a legitimate high performer.)

With independence (though Uganda remained part of the British Commonwealth), he rose quickly, to Commander of the Army in 1965. In 1970, he was promoted to commander of all the armed forces. His power seemed to rise along with that of Milton Obote, the leader of independence: Obote became Prime Minister in 1962, got himself installed as President in 1968, and, in 1969, made himself dictator, outlawing all political parties except his own.

In October 1970, Obote made the mistake of taking control of the armed forces, ending Amin's brief tenure as commander-in-chief, reducing him back to Commander of the Army. Amin was led to believe that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds. So, on January 25, 1971, while Obote was attending the Commonwealth summit in Singapore, Amin had his troops seal off Entebbe International Airport, and took Kampala. A broadcast on Radio Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption and preferential regional treatment.

Like many other would-be dictators, Amin played whatever role he thought would help him at the time. He would sometimes wear a suit to present himself to foreign leaders as a modern leader. But, at times like his coup, he would present himself in uniform, as a soldier, not a politician, saying the military government would remain as a caretaker regime until new elections could be held. That was what the people wanted. They fell for it.

Amin shifted from being a pro-Western ruler, enjoying considerable support from Israel, to being backed by the Warsaw Pact, and fellow African dictators Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire. In 1972, he expelled Asians from the country, a majority of them being of Indian ancestry, leading Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India to sever diplomatic relations.

He had at least 6 wives at the same time, and claimed 43 children. He was a kleptocrat, robbing the national treasury blind to enrich himself, and, when he felt like it, his cronies. His regime was a human rights nightmare, as he imprisoned and killed minority tribes and ethnic minorities. Records were woefully incomplete, so we'll never know how many people he had killed: The low estimate is 100,000, and the high estimate is 500,000. And he was only in power for 8 years.

In 1976, he allowed an Air France airliner, meant to fly from Tel Aviv to Paris but hijacked by Palestinian terrorists, to land at Entebbe Airport. Soon after, 156 non-Jewish hostages who did not hold Israeli passports were released and flown to safety, while 83 Jews and Israeli citizens, as well as 20 others who refused to abandon them -- including the captain and crew of the jet -- continued to be held hostage. Israeli commandos liberated the plane, with 45 Ugandan soldiers, 4 hostages, and 1 Israeli soldier dying.

As a result, the United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Uganda the following year. Amin declared that he had defeated the British and added "CBE" to his title, for "Conqueror of the British Empire," instead of its usual "Commander of the Order of the British Empire." He also proclaimed himself to be the King of Scotland.

His title eventually became "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular." "VC" stood for "Victorious Cross," his version of Britain's highest military honor, the Victoria Cross. "DSO" is the Distinguished Service Order, another British decoration that he didn't win on his own. "MC" stands for "Military Cross," ditto.

He said he kept the severed heads of enemies in a refrigerator. He was widely rumored to be a cannibal. His not-quite-denial was saying that, "Human flesh is generally too salty for my taste."

His last mistake was attempting to annex the Kagera Region of Tanzania. That nation's President, Julius Nyerere, invaded Uganda in response. On April 11, 1979, Amin fled Kampala, and Tanzanian troops captured it. Amin went to Libya, then fled to Iraq, and finally landed in Saudi Arabia. Let's face it: You've hit the big time when you're too crazy for Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein to put up with you.

The Saudi royal family put him up at the Sands Hotel in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, and he lived there, protected from the World Court by the royals, until his death on August 16, 2003. He was probably 74 years old. Had he been killed in the coup attempt that toppled him, it would have been a huge story. But, having been out of power for 24 years, and dying between the fall and the capture of Saddam, his death was barely even noticed by the world, and was seen as mostly irrelevant.

He was played by Julius Harris in the film Victory at Entebbe, released only 5 months after the raid, and while Amin was still very much in power; Yaphet Kotto in Raid on Entebbe, airing on NBC only 1 month after the preceding, which was still in theaters; Joseph Olita in the 1981 film Amin: The Rise and Fall; and Forest Whitaker won an Academy Award for playing him in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland.

In a 1994 episode of Seinfeld, George (Jason Alexander) talked about "how dictators get started," mentioning Benito Mussolini as a guy who would double-park rather than circling the block 6 times looking for a space, and said getting away with things like that leads to trying to get away with progressively bigger things. Kramer (Michael Richards) mentioned Idi Amin. With those long Cadillac convertibles he liked, he could have boxed a lot of cars in.

*

April 11, 1979 was a Friday. Football was out of season. There were 2 games played in the NBA Playoffs. The Philadelphia 76ers beat the New Jersey Nets, 122-114 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, despite John Williamson's 38 points for the Nets. And the Atlanta Hawks beat the Houston Rockets, 109-106 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena was later converted into the "Central Campus" of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled for this day. There were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The Cincinnati Stingers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-2 at the Colisée de Québec. And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Birmingham Bulls, 2-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.

And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. This should have been a sign: The Yankees' 3-year reign as American League Champions was coming to an end, and it would be the O's who would control the AL Eastern Division race all season.

* The New York Mets lost to the Montreal Expos, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Tony Pérez hit a home run in the top of the 11th inning. Attendance for this early-season Wednesday afternoon game: 5,980. This was the end of the era of team chairman M. Donald Grant, when Shea was known as "Grant's Tomb" for its lack of attendance.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-3 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Pete Rose went 0-for-4. Willie Stargell did not play.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 9-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Johnny Bench went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 10-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.

* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 11-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Nolan Ryan outpitched Dave Goltz. Rod Carew went 2-for-4. This season would be the only time, outside of All-Star Games, that Ryan and Carew were teammates.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Steve Comer allowed only 2 baserunners over 7 innings, a single to Ted Cox in the 3rd, and a walk to Toby Harrah in the 6th. Sparky Lyle pitched 2 perfect innings to finish the 1-hit shutout.

* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-3 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Dave Winfield went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 14-7 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

* The Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up the next day. The Jays won, 9-7.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Milwaukee Brewers were not scheduled.

* The Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals, arch-rivals, were rained out at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 19. The Cards won the opener, 6-3. The Cubs won the nightcap, 3-2. Jerry Martin hit a home run in the top of the 10th inning to win it.