by Ray Black
As Uganda approached independence from Britain in 1962, Milton Obote, leader of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), attained the office of Prime Minister. Obote appointed his close ally, Amin, First Lieutenant of the Ugandan army. Once again, assigned the duty of ending cattle stealing in the north, Amin perpetrated such atrocities – torture, fatal beatings and burials alive – that the British government demanded his prosecution. Instead Obote merely reprimanded him for his ‘over-zealousness’ and sent him for further military training in the UK.
Having served the British army with brutal distinction, Amin was promoted to major, in 1964, and ordered to quell mutiny in the Ugandan army – nothing that a severe dose of torture, mutilation and glorious slaughter in the name of national harmony couldn’t solve. His reward for blood-dripping success was further promotion to colonel.
AMIN, THE VILLAGE TYRANT
The events of the following year set Uganda on the path to economic and social ruin. The thoroughly corrupt and ruthless allies, Obote and Amin, were exposed for their involvement in smuggling gold and ivory out of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, allegedly to raise funds for troops loyal to the murdered DRC Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. When the funds ‘mysteriously’ failed to materialize, the popular President, Edward Mutebi Mutesa II, King of Buganda, also known as ‘King Freddie’, called for a parliamentary investigation. Stung into decisive action, Obote promoted Amin to general and made him Chief-of-Staff, had five ministers arrested, suspended the 1962 constitution and declared himself president. King Freddie fled to Britain, in 1966, when Amin’s forces stormed the royal palace.
Ironically, Obote, in elevating and trusting Amin, the ‘village tyrant’, had sown the seeds of his own downfall. Voracious, dissolute and brazenly barbaric as he was, Amin was also shrewd enough to recognize human weakness and susceptibility. He turned the immense funds he amassed, from smuggling and from gun-running to Israeli-backed rebels in southern Sudan, to highly effective, tactical use: he kept his own troops sweet and loyal with regular bribes, not least through the weekly flights he commissioned to Stansted airport, in England, where his lackeys would stock up with forty tonnes of treats, especially abundant supplies of whisky. Despite Obote’s attempts to sideline him by first putting him under house arrest and then demoting him, Amin staged a coup d’état on 25 January 1971, installing himself as president, whilst Obote attended a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore.
Ugandans were overjoyed at the overthrow of the corrupt Obote by Amin, a man of considerable presence, charm and stature who also had a decidedly common touch. Nevertheless, it was astonishing to note that Britain also approved of his administration. What price moral foreign policy when a former colonial power, fully aware of the sadistic proclivities of a known killer, gun-runner and smuggler stands by and welcomes his illegal seizure of power in a still emerging, independent state?
True, he was cunning enough to promise free and fair democratic elections to allay Ugandans’ suspicions and fears. He also disbanded Obote’s secret police and granted amnesty to political prisoners, as well as permitting the return of the body of the popular King Freddie for a state funeral, following his death in exile. However, Obote’s secret police simply transmuted into Amin’s State Research Bureau, while the whisky-fuelled killer squads systematically eliminated Obote’s followers and other ethnic groups, leading dissidents and political foes, along with anyone foolhardy enough to investigate Amin’s crimes, such as the two Americans, Nicholas Stroh and Robert Siedle, murdered for inquiring into massacres that had occurred at Mbarara barracks in Western Uganda.
His capacity for political expediency above faith and loyalty was exposed for all to see just one year after the coup, in 1972. His former close allies, Britain and Israel, stopped selling him arms with which to continue his killing sprees. The offer of help from Colonel Muammar Qaddafi of Libya no doubt reminded Amin of his Muslim roots, and he turned his unbridled rage on his ex-allies: he expelled Israeli ambassadors and military advisors and up to 80,000 Asians holding British passports, expropriating all of their property, businesses and wealth in the process. This proved to be an early turning point - Amin’s ruinous spending on the armed forces at the expense of the country as a whole and the departure of the Asian community, effectively the backbone of the Ugandan economy, began to reveal to the international community the enormity of the Ugandan situation and Amin’s gross mismanagement.
BRITAIN SEVERES DIPLOMATIC TIES
In June 1976, Amin allowed an Air France airliner hijacked by members of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) hoping to have freed hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israel, to land at Entebbe Airport. In total, 156 non-Jewish hostages were released, while eighty-three Jews and Israeli citizens, as well as twenty others who refused to leave, remained captive on board. Three hostages died during the Israeli rescue operation, while seven hijackers, forty-five Ugandan soldiers, and one Israeli soldier were killed. Jewish passenger Dora Bloch, hospitalized prior to the rescue operation, was subsequently murdered in reprisal. Britain severed diplomatic ties with Uganda and Uganda’s international relations were critically damaged.
Nevertheless, Amin clung on to power by constantly reorganising the army, to prevent any group or individual from mounting a challenge to him, especially when he was abroad. He frequently changed routines, itineraries and even bodyguards, to keep his enemies – both real and supposed – guessing his next move. Despite his continued persecution of ethnic groups, religious denominations and major public opponents, he somehow managed to secure election to the Chair of the OAU (Organization of African Unity) in 1975, a fact which surely had major bearing on the next bewildering event: as late as 1977, African countries, no doubt anxious to continue reversing the trend of external influence and control of black African states, blocked a United Nations resolution which would have condemned Amin for his gross violation of human rights.
Amin’s utter neglect of the Ugandan economy and infrastructure ultimately precipitated his downfall. The price of coffee, the country’s major export, had fallen by at least sixty per cent and the USA was refusing to buy it from the regime any longer. Even the supportive Arab states baulked at subsidising a leader who not only came up short on converting Uganda to Islam but also killed fellow Muslims, among the estimated victims – up to 500,000 Ugandans – he had despatched from this world. This time Amin’s diversionary tactics backfired: the failed invasion of Tanzania in 1978 triggered a successful counter-invasion. In April 1979, Amin fled to Libya, later moving to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, then Bahrain in the early 1990s.
HIS FINAL FOURTEEN YEARS
So, how did the deposed megalomaniac King of Slaughter live out his final fourteen years? Following a blood-spattered career that saw him graduate from torture and eviscerations to single-handed executions, such as that of the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Janani Luwum – with a deft bullet through the mouth and one in the groin – and commissioning of massacres and mass executions, with corpses thrown into the Nile blocking up intake ducts at a nearby dam or providing abundant food for passing crocodiles, did he come to repent and see the error of his ways? Not exactly. He lived a quiet, if not modest life, given the generous subsidy, staff and accommodation he received from his hosts, in return for keeping well away from politics, until he died of multiple organ failure, in 2003. In 1989 he did try to stage a comeback in Uganda, but decided against entering the country when he was warned he would have to answer for his sins.
To return to our opening theme: many of the artists, poets, dramatists and writers in the seven-year Dada period felt impelled to decontaminate early 20th century European art in all its forms and did their best to cleanse it with their healing mockery, against the backdrop of a conflict that threatened to destroy creativity and life itself. For his part, the mocking Idi Amin Dada seized control of Uganda – the Pearl of Africa, according to Winston Churchill, in his 1908 book My African Journey – and did his absolute worst
during his seven years of terror to obliterate its beauty, its culture and its people. We witnessed his monstrous pursuit of power, glory, wealth and fame in a continent that has had most frequently to endure the worst consequences of power vacuums, corruption and post-colonial dictatorships.
Ivan the Terrible
Ivan IV or Ivan Grozny is much better known as Ivan the Terrible due to his brutal regime as Tsar of Russia. ‘Terrible’ is actually something of a mistranslation, as its true meaning in the context it was given means ‘awe-inspiring’, although his vicious actions as ruler make this misnomer more than justified.
OBSESSION WITH RELIGION AND TORTURE
The oldest son of Vasilij III, Ivan was only three years old when his father died in 1533; his mother, Elena Glinskaya, was elected regent until Ivan was deemed mature enough to assume power, but after just five years she was poisoned leaving the eight-year-old Ivan orphaned. The boyars – nobles – who, historians believe, were behind the murder of his mother seized power but despite his fears that he would be the next to be murdered and the abuse of the boyars, Ivan lived. He was largely ignored, suffered ill health and his education was neglected by his supposed guardians. He believed though that he had been spared by God and found salvation in the Old Testament, becoming both devoutly religious and obsessed with its blood-and-thunder contents.In stark contrast, his other obsession in his early years was with torture and he enjoyed throwing small animals like cats and dogs from great heights and pulling feathers off birds. At the age of thirteen, Ivan demanded the execution of one of the boyars who was consequently torn to pieces by hunting dogs at his command. He assumed power at the age of seventeen in 1547, insisting on being Russia’s first Tsar as opposed to Grand Duke of Moscow.
In spite of the violent manner in which one of his enemies had been dispatched four years previously, his reign began peacefully. Along with his happy marriage to Anastasia Romanov, who seemed to have a grounding effect on him, he introduced several reforms and initiated trade links with England. In 1552, Ivan successfully defeated the Tartar Mongols to gain the city of Kazan. To celebrate this victory, St Basil’s Cathedral was constructed in Red Square. Legend has it that Ivan had the architect who designed the cathedral, Postnik Yakovlev, blinded, lest he create another such building that could rival it, although Yakovlev was the creative force behind two later constructions in Kazan. His successes continued when, two years after his victory in Kazan, he seized Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea. It seemed that the misery he had endured during his childhood was a distant memory, but his happiness was not to last.
REVENEGE AND VIOLENCE
In 1560, Anastasia suddenly died; Ivan was devastated and the rage that his late wife’s calming influence had kept at bay returned with dire consequences for his once-favoured courtiers. Convinced that, like his mother, she had been poisoned, he blamed them for her death and set about getting his revenge. At his insistence, entire families were wiped out. As well as the tragic loss of his wife, his health declined due to a bone disease that caused the vertebrae that formed his spine to fuse together. To remedy this, Ivan took mercury – and became addicted to it – which made him volatile and fed his violent urges.
In what seemed to be a manipulative ploy to gain more power, Ivan threatened to abdicate in 1565. When the clergy begged him to reconsider, he stipulated that he would only return to power if he could purge the nation without any interference. His plan worked and he now had total control over Russia and could carry out what he perceived to be God’s will. He founded a 6,000-strong secret police force known as the oprichniki which arrested, tortured, raped and executed up to 10,000 victims. This force reported directly to Ivan and were used to remove anybody he perceived as a threat. Torture sessions were a daily event in the ‘monastery’ that Ivan and three hundred of the oprichniki lived in. The bloodthirsty leader insisted on Biblical punishments, apparently trying to justify his cruelty to himself. He was an avid spectator and also meted out the agony himself on occasion, taking pleasure in doing so. With his fearsome reputation preceding him, few challenged his authority although when the head of the Russian Orthodox Church pleaded with Ivan to relent, he was arrested, charged with sorcery and murdered.
In 1569, Ivan and his oprichniki embarked on a five-week assault on the city of Novgorod. After hearing rumours that senior figures were plotting to side with Poland, the madman led the attack which saw a reported 15,000 innocent citizens tortured and mutilated for simply living in the place he suspected of treason. He took a sadistic delight in watching the bloodshed and returned home triumphant and satisfied. However, even those living in Moscow were not safe from his impulsive and furious temper and he soon established trials to weed out those he suspected of sympathising with the people of Novgorod. Those who were found guilty were executed in Red Square with 300 killed on one day. One victim was suspended by his feet while soldiers hacked off body parts, while others succumbed to the gallows and a massive cauldron in the bloodbath that Ivan demanded.
MENTAL DECLINE AND SELF PUNISHMENT
In 1581, Ivan accidentally killed his own son and heir, Ivan Ivanovich, in a fit of rage. The Tsar, it was said, was unhappy with the way his pregnant daughter-in-law was dressed and beat her for not changing into something he deemed more appropriate. His son took issue over this and found himself on the receiving end of Ivan’s pointed staff. The head wound inflicted by the blow became infected and he died a few days later. Ivan was devastated by what he had done and, according to one account, hit his own head repeatedly against the floor. He spent the remaining four years of his life in mourning and self-punishment. His mental decline seemed to gather pace and he made several desperate pleas to Queen Elizabeth I of England for asylum. Ivan had killed countless people himself and it seems that the death of a loved one at his own hands caused him to finally be repentant for the desolation he had caused. He made lists of all the victims he could remember killing and sent them to monasteries for prayers; one listed 3,148 while another accounted for 3,750. In a final desperate attempt to gain redemption, Ivan had himself rechristened as a monk and after he died playing chess in 1584, he was interred in his monk’s habit. His reign of terror was over but the consequences of it left Russia in a bleak condition.
Josef Stalin
Remembered as one of the most brutal and murderous dictators in history, Josef Stalin remained supreme leader of the Soviet Union for over a quarter of a century, during which time he was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people. His series of Five Year Plans caused wide-spread famine, Ethnic deportation removed millions of unwanted races from his country and the Great Purge resulted in the murders of opponents within his government and consolidated his absolute power.
BORN IOSEF DZHUGASHVILI
According to his original birth certificate, Iosef Dzhugashvili was born 6 December 1878, in Gori, Georgia, though Stalin had his records and those of his family altered to confuse those trying to investigate him. These included his official birthday, which was changed to 18 December 1879. The only survivor of four children born in four years, the young Stalin grew up sickly and in poverty. His mother, a peasant, worshipped him but his father, a cobbler, was frequently drunk and beat him regularly. The hero worship he received from his mother deteriorated over the years to the point where they didn’t speak. His mother is quoted as saying that it was a pity that he didn’t become a priest and Stalin would often refer to her as an old whore in the presence of colleagues. The antipathy towards his mother seemed to exist because she knew the real Stalin and wasn’t taken in by all of his political spin and when she died, having only visited her once in the last forty years of her life, he didn’t even attend her funeral.
The ten-year-old Stalin was sent to a church school and he later won a scholarship to study at a seminary, where it is thought that he discovered Marxism. He only lasted three years there as he had no interest in the teachings and was ultimately expelled for not turning up to his exams – although he would later c
laim that it was because he was discovered reading banned Communist material and had formed a Socialist circle; thirty years after attending the seminary, his anti-church stance would see him ordering the destruction of churches and the removal of all religious icons that hung on the walls of every Orthodox household. Stalin museums became the new place of worship and his image replaced icons of the Orthodox Church.
After leaving the seminary, Stalin had several jobs but devoted most of his time to the Russian Social Democrat Party which he joined in 1903. The young revolutionary wanted an end to the 300 year rule of the Romanovs and as a member of the party organized strikes and demonstrations, spread propaganda and raised money by robbing banks. In 1906, he married his first wife, Ekaterina Svanidze, a tailor. Their marriage was cut short the following year, however, when she died of typhus, which is thought to have been exacerbated by the fact that all of Stalin’s money went to his party and not on her care. At her funeral, he is said to have stated that with her died any human feeling in him. In their brief union they had a son, Yakov, who, after the death of his mother, was raised by his aunt as he and Stalin never got on.
MAN OF STEEL
Marked by the Tsar’s secret police as a trouble maker, Stalin spent almost a decade being arrested, imprisoned or exiled from the country. It was during his time in prison that, feeling it would be good for his image, he changed his surname to Stalin, meaning ‘man of steel’. After Tsar Nikolas was overthrown, Alexander Karensky, the new Prime Minister, allowed all of the political prisoners to come home. Stalin retuned to St. Petersburg and worked on Pravda, a socialist political newspaper.