When great dictators fall

1. Idi Amin Dada, Uganda
Mercifully for the people of Uganda, dictator Idi Amin Dada ruled only for nine years. However, it was a time of gross human rights transgressions, political repression, ethnic persecution, mass killings and corruption in the beleaguered African republic. Amin initially aligned with the West but quickly found an admiring ally in Libya’s Muammar al-Gaddafi. On public radio, he declared that he had assumed the title "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Alhaji Dr Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE." Incidentally, CBE stood for “Conqueror of the British Empire” – a self-bestowed honorific for his achievement of driving out British diplomats. He curried favor with the Soviet Union, which supplied him with arms. In 1976, Amin declared himself the “Last King of Scotland” (theme of a Hollywood movie with an Oscar-winning performance by Forest Whitaker). A polygamist known for his excessive tastes, Amin was the subject of several films and documentaries. After he was deposed in 1979, Amin fled to Libya and then to Saudi Arabia, where he died in hospital August 2003.