Idi Amin: Lion of Africa

by Manzoor Moghal

Idi Amin was no fool. Despite the numerous caricatures as a lunatic murderer he was a towering figure both in Uganda and the African continent, and he outwitted all his opponents until his downfall. When he came into power after having engineered a military coup to overthrow President Milton Obote, the nemesis of Britain, he was the darling of the West. He was lavishly praised for his bravery in ridding Uganda of a dictator who had increasingly become a thorn in Britain's side. But when he began to make demands on Britain to discharge its aid commitments to Uganda, the British chose to ridicule him for his 'buffoonery'. He turned instead to Libya for his immediate financial needs, and that was the beginning of both the widening gulf between Britain and Idi Amin, and also the establishment of a new dictator in Africa. He was an uneducated man, but he was deeply cunning and calculating. With his effusive charm and outward affability he was able to disarm his enemies and then catch them unawares. Though he ran his administration with the help of the elite civil servants of the country it was by his animal instincts that he kept himself in power. As internal economic problems grew, he made scapegoats of the Asians of Uganda, blaming them for all the ills of the country. In a masterstroke he succeeded in expelling the Asian community from Uganda in 1972 without any serious repercussions from the West. He wrested away the economy of Uganda from the hands of the Asians and put it into the lap of the Africans of his country, who loved him for this and his other exploits in a way that can only be compared to the way Germans had once loved Hitler.

Genres: Africa, History, Politics

180 pages, Paperback

First published March 10, 2010

Reviews

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very biased account of the life of Idi Amin. The author is of Indian descent and Amin removed Asian people from Uganda. Difficult to find much about Amin in English that isn't biased.

[Antoinette Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frustrating. I was looking for a straightforward biography of Amin, and while there are biographical details, it's far from comprehensive. Instead, it focuses largely on Amin's treatment and mistreatment of Asian (mostly Indian) populations-a fascinating topic that deserves a longer treatise but not what I was looking for.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book.
“Uganda was another instance where interference by a western colonial power in the internal affairs and development of a country was to prove counterproductive and harmful to the long-term interests of its indigenous people.”
The meddling of western colonialism has a consistent cycle/pattern: go into a country, take over all production of natural resources, treat the people as second/third class citizens, get overthrown, leave, stage a coup, destabilise the country and then pretend to be confused as to why people from the country hate you.

‘Shockingly’ Britain had a HUGE role to play in the colonisation of Uganda, the author does a good job of explaining the post-Britain (although did Britain really leave Uganda after they gained independence) Uganda and the years that followed the independence.

[Jeff Whittum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't planning on reading this book...or any book about Idi Amin, but my reading on the nearby country of the D.R. Congo led me to pick it up. My interests tend to splinter into other, similar or related things and I wound up reading this biography of Idi Amin by Manzoor Moghal.

First of all, I had to appreciate the tone of the book and what seemed to me the author's desire to write objectively about Christians and other religious groups to which he, being a Muslim, does not belong. There was no diatribe against Judeo-Christian principles in the least; he wrote rather sympathetically of the Christian plight in areas of the book.

But, that not being a major feature of the book and more a side-note, allow me to move right along.

I also appreciated the pretty straightforward, chronological approach the author took to the overall narrative. A pet peeve of mine is to have an author meander back and forth in time without much of a warning before doing so, leaving the reader to pick up on the rabbit trail and orient him/herself to how it fits the bigger picture. Moghal did not do this (much) and for that, I salute him.

I found the book very readable and interesting. Moghal managed to keep me "page-turning" (I read the kindle version so page-clicking might be more accurate) in a book I never expected to find myself reading on a topic I had never before been overly interested in. In hindsight, after doing some similar reading on the colonization of Africa, I'm ashamed to have to admit that I had no interest there, but ignorance sometimes knows no bounds, particularly in the West. I stand (well, sit) before you, guilty as charged. The world should know more about the atrocities going on around them, even, and perhaps especially across borders. But let me get back on track...the book was written in an engaging and readable manner, which is how a book purporting to tell a story SHOULD be written. Too often, I'm afraid, authors sacrifice readability and the quality of a story for being (or attempting to be) too literary. This book is absent of any of that.

I guess in the end, while I only gave it three stars, truth be told, it was more like 3.5. It did its job in informing me about a cruel despot that I had only heard of before. I've no doubt Uganda is better off without him, but I am better off for knowing about him, as it evidences the depths to which the human mind is capable of plumbing to grab more power and achieve more fame.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone hate Edi Ameen but he good man in many way. In west people like him when he say yes sir to everything but when he is man and stands for what he think right no one like him. People praise Mutesa who was coward from Edi and he exile to the United Kingdom until his death in 69. I like this book becuase it shows true face of Edi, the good and bad. The I would rank him as the 6th most powerful leader in the top 20 of greatest leaders of Africa. Yes people like madela are more famous but Edi have his place. British espically hate Edi because he play match against the 55 British Lions. He good in sports and very strong man, he boxing since age 14 and he was number 1 boxer of Uganda. He want to fight Mohammad ali clay world famous boxer. All Ugandands very sad when on 16 August he died and in Uganda they have day of sadness. Yes he make mistakes by kicking out asaians and he knew he made mistake but everyone makes mistakes. When someone rule a country for 18 years they will make mistake. Author Manzoor Moghal do very good job on being balanced pointing out mistakes but showing good also.

[Carlos Llanos · Rating 3 out of 5]

A view from the Asian-Ugandan perspective