II.

Early Life and Military Career

Idi Amin was born in Buganda to parents who came from northwestern Uganda. He received little formal education and pursued a career in the army from a young age. The details of Amin’s early military service are uncertain—when president, he claimed to have fought in Burma (Myanmar) in World War II (1939-1945), although he may have only served in the British army as a cook or orderly, and possibly was not involved in the war at all. Ugandan army records indicate that he entered the King's African Rifles (the British army’s East African corps) in 1946. A physically imposing athlete, Amin gained the attention and admiration of his superiors by becoming the heavyweight boxing champion of Uganda, a title he held from 1951 to 1960. In the early 1950s Amin campaigned with his battalion against the Mau Mau Rebellion, an uprising against British rule in Kenya. Just before Uganda became independent from Britain in 1962, Amin was promoted to lieutenant and ordered to disarm a number of cattle raiders in northeastern Uganda. While carrying out this order, Amin reportedly tortured several suspected cattle raiders. The British governor told the new prime minister, Milton Obote, about Amin’s misconduct, but Obote decided to overlook it, much to his later regret. Amin was promoted to captain by 1963 and was rapidly promoted to the rank of colonel and deputy commander of the army in 1964.

In 1965 Amin was implicated in a financial scandal with Obote and other top government officials. Ugandan military units were assisting rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who allegedly paid the Ugandans in gold. Amin had made large deposits in his personal bank account that he later admitted were the results of these transactions, although he denied any intention of keeping the funds. In the aftermath of the scandal, leaders of the kingdom of Buganda (a region of Uganda that enjoyed special governmental powers within the country) demanded Obote’s removal from office and threatened to secede. On Obote’s orders, Amin commanded a successful military attack on the palace of the kabaka (king) of Buganda, forcing the kabaka to flee the country. Obote subsequently named Amin the commander of Uganda's armed forces. Amin’s relationship with Obote deteriorated after the mysterious murder of high-ranking army officer Pierino Okoya in 1970. Okoya had earlier denounced Amin for cowardice because he fled to a military base instead of taking charge of the army following an attempted assassination of Obote in December 1969. In a move to take away Amin’s command over troops, Obote moved him to an administrative military position in late 1970. In January 1971, when Amin discovered that Obote intended to arrest him on charges of misappropriating millions of dollars of military funds, Amin organized a coup and overthrew Obote while Obote was out of the country.