"Your Excellency, have you really eaten human flesh?" A foreign journalist boldly asked his question to the prime minister in front of him, but as soon as he spoke, he began to regret it, because the Ugandan president, Idie Amin, who was sitting across from him, was nearly two meters tall and weighed more than 110 kilograms, and he was afraid that when the prime minister heard about this problem, he would kill him, cook and eat all human flesh, and then smash his skull on the table. But to his surprise, Amin laughed when he heard the reporter's question, and he replied: "I have eaten, but the human flesh is too salty to meet my taste." ”
Uganda is an African country with a few cannibalistic tribes that also exist to a greater or lesser extent.
But Amin's Kavaks are a honey-loving group, and the tribesmen keep bees and grow corn, peanuts and sweet potatoes.
Although everyone only eats one meal a day and only wears a simple fig leaf around them, they do not have the habit of breaking human skulls, and they do not have the habit of eating human flesh.
Amin's father only taught his son to farm and build a house, and nothing else was left to mind.
Therefore, eating human flesh and knocking on the skull is obviously the "personality" that Amin himself cultivated the day after tomorrow.
However, it was such a murderous person who, by chance, controlled the ugandan regime for 8 years, which made many innocent people fall for eight lifetimes.
It is estimated that more than 300,000 people were killed during Amin's administration, and more than 100,000 others were forced into exile. In the end, if it were not for Amin's trouble with the wrong country, the number of victims would probably continue to increase.
Why is Amin so inhumane? Who ended Amin's rule and saved the people of Uganda? This has to start with Amin's life.
Born around 1925, Amin came from a poor family, to borrow his own words: I was born in a poor family, and when I was young, I had to herd sheep, carry water, cook, and even work hard at night to earn money for my parents.
Naturally, a family like this could not provide Amin with the opportunity to receive a good education, so he had to work in the fields frequently.
Thanks to genetics, labor, and food, Amin grew tall and burly and was conscripted into the army in 1946.
Amin's army was the British African Rifle Corps, which at this time was the suzerainty of Uganda. As a creep, Amin knew how to respect his British superiors, who also liked the tall, skilled and polite black African.
His superiors even hoped to overcome racial and linguistic barriers and maximize Amin's position in the military.
However, the "friendly" British were ultimately colonial rulers, and if Uganda could not usher in independence, Amin could only give the British a lifetime.
Beginning in 1953, calls for independence within Uganda grew stronger, culminating in the declaration of independence in 1962. At this time, Amin was still on duty with his British superiors, and he was neither involved in the struggle for independence nor knew what independence meant to him.
Perhaps the only realistic benefit is that his military position can continue to move upwards, and this also gives Amin a taste of power.
Originally, before Uganda's independence, Amin was no more than a second lieutenant, at most an acting company commander. But with the removal of the barriers set by the British colonists, coupled with the introduction of his uncle who worked in the Ministry of the Interior and Ugandan Prime Minister Abbott, Amin soared.
In 1966, Prime Minister Abbott became President of Uganda. The following year he appointed Amin, who was already commander of the army, as commander-in-chief of the national armed forces.
Amin, who had achieved the top rank in the military, was still not satisfied, and he began to secretly develop his power in order to go to a higher level. Obert was aware of this and tried to weaken Amin's military power, but it was too late.
(Note: Obert)
In January 1971, Obot visited the Asian country of Singapore as head of state. While in Singapore, he gave orders to his cronies to arrest the commander-in-chief of the army, Amin.
It turned out to be very unfortunate that the call from abroad was heard at the telephone exchange desk by officers loyal to Amin.
Upon learning of this, Amin immediately dispatched his troops, launched a military coup, and won the victory without suspense.
From the radio in the capital Kampala came Amin's voice: The soldiers of the Ugandan armed forces have entrusted the government to me, thus giving me control of the country ... Long live the Republic of Uganda!
Amin thus easily became the leader of Uganda, a confused common man who may not yet understand what this man's ascension to the throne means to them.
After Amin came to power, he initially adopted a popular policy of releasing political prisoners, and Britain and Israel sent economic and military assistance.
Soon, however, the ferocious personality that Amin had cultivated over the years was revealed.
A few years ago, when Amin was under Obert, he led his troops to carry out a military operation. The battle ended quickly, but Amin, who had never been addicted, ordered the slaughter of innocent people in the surrounding area, and then the bodies were trucked into the river to feed the crocodiles.
He gave only 5 casualties in the battle report, but in fact hundreds of people lost their lives for no reason.
Now president, Amin no longer has to worry about anything, and this murderous and murderous spirit has brought more people into the abyss of death through the power he holds.
(Note: Amin and one of his wives, Sarah.)
He expanded his army, established intelligence organizations and secret service systems, and suppressed any voice that dared to oppose him.
Suspected disloyalty within the army and government has been brutally purged. Some of them were put in prison and then inexplicably died in prison; others were called out of the queue and shot or slit in front of others.
Former Chief of the General Staff, Husseini, was killed in prison with the butt of a gun, and then Amin cut off his broken head and put it in the freezer to collect, and from time to time he had to take it out to admire.
This method of purging dissidents is not only crude and cruel, but also very wide-ranging. There were 20 government ministers during the period of the former President Obert, resulting in 8 people killed and 4 exiled abroad;
There were 23 officers in the army who were colonels and above, and only 4 people, including Amin himself, were left.
And like all brutal rulers, Amin's close associates were doomed.
Once, when Amin found that one of his mistresses had found a new man, he realized that he had lost face, so he killed the mistress, dismembered her, cooked and ate the body, then placed the mistress's skull on the table, and then smashed the skull in front of the others, warning that this was the end of disobedience.
Under Amin's rule, hundreds of thousands of Ugandans have been killed, the economy has stagnated, foreign aid has stopped, and the country is on the verge of collapse.
In order to change the status quo, assassinations, riots and mutinies against Amin in Uganda have taken place one after another. However, it seems that even death is afraid of Amin, who can avoid danger every time and will continue to hunt down those who threaten his rule afterwards.
But in the long run, Amin's followers were also in danger, and they were afraid that one day the butcher knife would cut himself in the neck.
As a result, the army began to mutiny, and senior generals demanded that Amin "return the government to the people."
The shrewd Amin immediately thought of starting a foreign war and diverting domestic discontent toward him externally. He has targeted Uganda's southern neighbor, Tanzania, which has embraced many opponents, including former Ugandan President Abbott.
Launching a war against Tanzania can not only further eliminate dissidents, but also pass on domestic contradictions, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
(Note: Gaddafi)
In 1978, the 7th year of Amin's rule in Uganda, the Ugandan army under his command spearheaded the attack on Tanzania.
Tanzania initially suffered a great loss because it did not have time to prepare, and the then president Nirerer had hoped to restore peace, but Amin refused, and a full-scale war between Tanzania and Ukraine began.
Unlike Uganda, which tanzania does not love, Tanzania has an extraordinary relationship with China, many of their officers have studied in Chinese military academies, using 59 tanks and J-7 aircraft from China.
Although the combat effectiveness of this army cannot be compared with that of our People's Liberation Army, it is also sufficient on the battlefields of Africa.
Amin's attack in October 1978 was driven back to his country by the Tanzanians in December.
Tanzanian President Nyerere decided to take this opportunity to unite forces inside and outside Uganda to overthrow the Amin regime in one fell swoop.
At this time, international forces also supported Tanzania, and the only one on Amin's side was Libya under Gaddafi.
Therefore, the Tanzanian army and the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian Opposition, with the support of all parties, launched a comprehensive counter-offensive against Amin.
By the end of March 1979, the Tan-U coalition had advanced near the capital Kampala, and Amin, who had already lost his fortune, had to flee in a hurry.
(Note: Sarah, Amin's widow, died in London, England in 2015 at the age of 59, photo taken in 1999)
After leaving Uganda with four wives, 30 mistresses and more than 20 children, Amin, who fled, lived in Libya for nearly a decade before moving to Saudi Arabia.
On August 16, 2003, Amin died of illness in a local hospital at the age of 78.
Although the Ugandan government allowed him to return to China for burial, Amin's relatives eventually left him in Saudi Arabia.
In Ugandan folklore, if the deceased does not return to his homeland, his soul will be trapped forever in the place where he died.
However, for Amin, the "Ugandan butcher" whose hands are stained with the blood of hundreds of thousands of compatriots, if he really has a soul, I am afraid that his soul will not return to Uganda, because there are hundreds of thousands of undead souls waiting for him in that land.
Content Source:
Li Xinye: "The Road to the End of The Cannibal president", Time People, No. 5, 2019
Judith Listowel, translated by She and Hu: Amin, The Commercial Press, 1975
Wei Cuiping: Uganda, Social Sciences Academic Press, 2012