Word: amin
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Twenty years ago, when he was a mere corporal in the King's African Rifles, Idi Amin Dada had a vision that told him some day he would be ruler of all Uganda. It was an accurate prediction. Last month General Amin, now 44, celebrated the first anniversary of his accession to Uganda's presidency after leading a coup that ousted the demagogic Milton Obote. There was a massive parade through the streets of Kampala, Uganda's capital, which featured a band in kilts and busbies marching to the skirl of bagpipes and sinuous dances by women...
Daddy is big indeed. A former heavyweight champion of Uganda -he retired undefeated in 1960-Amin packs about 240 Ibs. on his chunky 6-ft. 3-in. frame. He is also not your ordinary, everyday military dictator. A devout Moslem who detests hashish and miniskirts with equal fervor, he has four wives, three of whom take turns acting as official hostesses at presidential tea parties in Kampala. On Uganda's hotter days, Amin is likely to show up at hotel pools clad only in a pair of faded blue shorts...
...Daddy lives modestly enough, but he does have a $3,000,000 Israeli-built personal jet, which he has used to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, among other trips. He rockets around Kampala at breakneck speed in his own Jeep. Last year a military policeman warned him against speeding; Amin cheerfully accepted the reprimand. ''It just goes to show," he said, "that I am not above...
Rough Justice. In Uganda, Amin is the law, and he is clearly in no hurry to return Uganda to civilian rule. Currently, all Cabinet members are forced to accept commissions as junior officers in the army, which handily makes them subject to courts-martial in cases of malfeasance. Amin, though, pays relatively little attention to his Cabinet. Much of the nation's business is conducted at barazas-informal, impromptu powwows at which Big Daddy sits down with tribesmen, hears their complaints and dispenses rough justice...
...Former President A. Milton Obote of Uganda, who was offered sanctuary by the Tanzanian government after he was deposed in an army coup last January, has totally disappeared from public sight. The apparent and plausible reason: Uganda's military ruler, General Idi Amin, has offered a reward of $143,000 to anyone who can bring Obote back to Uganda alive...