Idi Amin Timeline
Key Events in the Life of Idi Amin Dada
| 1925 | Idi Amin Dada was born in 1925 near Koboko, in the West Nile Province of what is now the Republic of Uganda. |
| 1946 | Idi Amin Dada joins the King's African Rifles, KAR -- Britain's colonial African troops. (He served in Burma, Somalia, Kenya -- during the British suppression of the Mau Mau -- and Uganda.) |
| 25 January 1971 | General Idi Amin Dada takes power in Uganda by military coup while the existing president, Milton Obote, is at a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore. (This is a pre-emptive strike since President Obote has arranged for General Amin to be arrested and replaced as chief of staff.) Obote is accused of corruption and tribalism by the new government. |
| 27 August 1972 | Idi Amin Dada expels 50,000 Asians and confiscates their assets. He further insists that they depart Uganda by flying East African Airways. |
| 14 September 1972 | The US halts a $3 million loan to Uganda after Idi Amin praises Hitler in a telegram sent to Kurt Waldheim, UN Secretary-General, and Golda Meir, Israeli premier. (See Idi Amin Quotes.) |
| 17 September 1972 | An invasion by over one thousand troops, exiled supporters of the former Ugandan President Apolo Milton Obote, attack from Tanzania. President Idi Amin responds by bombing Tanzanian towns. |
| 11 July 1973 | Over 100 Peace Corps personnel are ordered to leave Uganda by Idi Amin. |
| 24 March 1974 | Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada, Ugandan president, crushes an attempted coup. It is later reported that over 50 army officers were killed following the failed coup. |
| 28 July 1975 | Idi Amin Dada is elected Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity |
| 29 June 1976 | Flight 139, an Air France A-300B Airbus, hijacked by the Palestine Liberation Organisation lands at Entebbe Airport with 256 hostages. The PLO demands the release of 53 prisoners. |
| 3 July 1976 | Israeli paratroopers attacked the airport at Entebbe and freed almost all the hostages from flight 139. |
| 5 July 1976 | Idi Amin threatens retaliation over the Israeli raid at Entebbe Airport |
| 28 July 1976 | Following Ugandan President Idi Amin Dada's support for the pro-Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe airport earlier this month, Britain breaks off diplomatic relations. |
| 7 February 1977 | Amnesty International accuses Idi Amin of the execution of thousands of Ugandans. |
| 16 February 1977 | The Most Reverend Janani Luwum, Anglican archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaïre, is killed whilst under arrest for sedition and arms smuggling. Although the official cause of death was given as a car crash, it was revealed that Luwum and two prominent government officials were killed on the orders of Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada, Ugandan head of state. |
| 25 February 1977 | 240 US citizens in Uganda are held hostage by Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada. |
| 1 March 1977 | Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda since 25 February and suggests they leave the country. |
| 18 June 1977 | It is reported by the international press that President Idi Amin is in hiding after being wounded in an assassination attempt. |
| October 1978 | Idi Amin Dada attempts to annex the northern Tanzanian province of Kagera with the help of Libyan troops. |
| 29 March 1979 | Idi Amin Dada flees towards his tribal homeland of Kakwa as his rule of Uganda crumbles. |
| 13 April 1979 | Idi Amin Dada is deposed as president of Uganda after Ugandan exiles, backed by the Tanzanian army, seizes the capital Kampala. Yusufu Kironde Lule of the Uganda National Liberation Front, UNLF, is declared the new president (prior to national elections). Idi Amin is said to be seeking exile in Saudi Arabia. |
| 12 March 1980 | Dr Apollo Milton Obote, the ex-president of Uganda now living in exile in Tanzania, confirms that he will be running for president. The incumbent, Field Marshal Idi Amin Dada, is departing for Saudi Arabia following his failed invasion of northern Tanzania. |
| 16 August 2003 | The former Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin Dada, known as the 'Butcher of Uganda' for his brutal rule whilst president in the 1970s, died in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 16 August 2003. According to news reports at the time, he died from "multiple organ failure". He was been buried in Saudi Arabia even though the Ugandan Government had said they would allow him to buried there. |
More on Idi Amin
• Biography of Idi Amin Dada
• Quotes: Idi Amin Dada
