Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 11 April 1979
- After Idi Amin was deposed, he lived in exile in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. He died there in his late 70s.
The Ugandan dictator Idi Amin was deposed on this day in 1979. He was forced to leave Uganda in a helicopter.
Firstly, he went to Libya where his ally Muammar Gaddafi ruled. However, he later moved to Saudi Arabia in 1980, and lived in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
The city is an extremely important economic center of Saudi Arabia. It functions as a port, and is considered as something akin to an access to Mecca.
The largest skyscraper in the world, the Kingdom Tower (Burj al Mamlakah), is being built there. The tower was planned to be 1,000 meters high (170 meters higher than Burj Khalifa in Dubai – the tallest building in the world).
Idi Amin held a pompous title of “His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Alhaji Dr. Idi Amin Dada” during his government in Uganda.
Idi Amin had five wives, and many children (most say that he had 30 to 50). He died in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia in 2003.
