- 2 days ago
Idi Amin
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00:00From being an international bogeyman who once cheerfully mixed menace and tyranny with his own version of knockabout farce, Idi
00:08Amin made himself invisible.
00:10The once garrulous British Army sergeant major shut up and vanished into the protective folds of his Arab allies.
00:17His presence here is supposed to be secret.
00:20These were the last pictures taken off him more than 18 months ago, during the early phase of his disastrous
00:27war against the Tanzanian army.
00:30From Uganda, he fled to Libya and then moved to another Arab country.
00:35I found Idi Amin, big daddy as he still likes to be called, living quietly in a brand new house
00:42that has been given to him.
00:44With him are one of his wives and 25 of his children.
00:49Ignominious defeat has treated him kindly. He's bursting with vitality.
00:55I am fresh, strong, and I am concerned with the situation in Uganda.
01:11But are you keeping track of the situation all the time? How do you manage that thousands of miles away?
01:18I have all Ugandans at heart, and they keep me informed.
01:25All Ugandans, except only a few, might be opposing me, but most of them, they love me, they pass their
01:41information to me,
01:42and they want me to save them from the chaos situation which is now happening in Uganda.
01:56When you left Uganda last year, did you manage to bring out a lot of money?
02:02Are you one of these rich leaders who've gone into exile?
02:05No, I am not rich, I am one of the poor leaders in the world, and my intention is to
02:22work for my people, but not for me.
02:26That is the reason why, you know, that if you check all banks all over the world, in Europe, in
02:37Asia, in Africa, in United States of America,
02:42you will never found an account belong to me, because I work for the people of Uganda.
02:49And I am a founder of the economic independence of Uganda.
02:58Field Marshal Amin, a year ago, your army seemed to have been destroyed by the Tanzanians in Uganda.
03:06You disappeared. Now, why did your army do so badly? What happened?
03:11I would say that my army, air force, and the marine were not destroyed by the Tanzanians.
03:27I am a trained military officer by British, and in military tactics, you can either fight the war,
03:46or, or, if you think you will win later, you can tactically withdraw your force to the safe place,
03:59and then, until you might make a counter in the future.
04:06The Tanzanians went round saying that you had run away.
04:10I never ran away, and they never fought battle against Uganda.
04:15And I will say that they have not even made any resistance in Uganda,
04:21because my plan that, as a founder member, and as a founder of the economic independence in Uganda,
04:31it would be very shame if I am to destroy my own town, capital city.
04:37They found all capital city is full, and they found ginger, it is full.
04:43And therefore, I directed my officers and the men of the Uganda armed forces not to harm anybody,
04:54not to steal, not to destroy any industry or any building, and we never, we withdraw safely.
05:03You've talked about saving Uganda.
05:05You say you're not interested in power, but do you think that you're the man who can save Uganda?
05:12I can. If Ugandans want me, I will.
05:17You know what Oboti said last week? I heard him say it.
05:21He said that Idi Amin Dada should be brought back to Uganda in chains.
05:26That's what he said at that rally.
05:29Yes, but he knows that I am very popular.
05:33Oboti is against any leader popular in Uganda, because he is unpopular.
05:42That is why he is to give instruction with Nyerere to deport, to arrest Lule, to arrest Binaissa.
05:50I want Binaissa must be set free immediately, and so that he can compete with Oboti.
05:59I want people like Lule must be returned back to Uganda.
06:04They can contribute a lot with their professional, like Binaissa is a trained lawyer.
06:10But should Big Daddy go back to Uganda in the near future? Would he like to?
06:19For me, yes. If the people of Uganda wants me, I will go back to Uganda, and I am sure
06:29I will contribute more for the people of Uganda.
06:33But I am not power thirsty. I wanted to help and rescue the innocent, poor Ugandans.
06:44What about all your supporters, your officials, you left behind?
06:49There are 3,000 who have been in prison in Kampala for over a year.
06:54What are your feelings about them?
06:56I will rescue them. I will do everything possible with the support of Uganda if they wanted to be free,
07:04if they wanted Uganda to be called as a Peel of Africa, as was said by late Winston Churchill, and
07:15Uganda will be.
07:17One of your great friends, Bob Astor's, Major Bob, is under a murder charge at the moment.
07:25What about Major Bob?
07:28I think they can say, as I wanted to inform you, that Major Bob is innocent.
07:37He's been helping the poor Ugandans.
07:43He has not killed anybody, what I know.
07:50Bob Astor was trying to help everyone poor, and those whom he helped, I am sure, they can also speak
08:00for themselves.
08:01And I am sure and confident that God will help Bob, and with the blessing of God, Bob will be
08:11out of the prison.
08:13After the liberation of Kampala, three days after it, I went to the State Research Bureau, and I walked down
08:21the basement.
08:22The basement was choked with bodies, corpses, shot.
08:27There was blood all over the floor.
08:30I think those people had been held in the State Research Bureau.
08:35Who could they have been?
08:36After the capture of Kampala, they brought bodies and put them there in State Research.
08:43Nobody would know, because I will tell you that they found the army, I withdrew the army before.
08:50I kept the army only engaging the enemy outside Kampala.
08:56What about the murder of those, there were four journalists murdered about ten days before the fall of Kampala, Europeans
09:05who came in from Kenya.
09:07I mean, what about that?
09:08I don't know at all, and first time for me to hear from you, I don't know about them at
09:14all.
09:14Well, another alleged crime involving the State Research Bureau was said to be Mrs. Dora Block, you know, the Israeli
09:24commando raid on Entebbe.
09:27They dug up her bones in the forest on the road to Ginger after liberation.
09:33I don't know.
09:34I can't be Amin in Kampala or in Entebbe, and the same Amin is in Mauritius, outgoing current chairman of
09:46the Organization of African Unity 1976, and handing over.
09:51And when I came back, it was, that is the time arriving, and that is the time was Israel raid.
09:59And how can I be responsible?
10:02I know nothing about it completely, because as far as I know, I know nothing about Dora Block.
10:09If you went back yourself, isn't there a very strong chance that somebody might try and kill you?
10:17Assassination?
10:18I mean, you've survived half a dozen assassination attempts.
10:22I am not a person who is afraid of being assassinated, because I believe in God.
10:30And I know exactly when and how I will die.
10:34And this is secret.
10:36And that is why you find that I was the last man to withdraw from the battlefield.
10:46And this is according to the military history.
10:52The commander of the battle is the last man to withdraw, and I perform my duty as a commander.
10:58Well, how did you get eyes of Uganda?
11:01How I got it?
11:02I got it through my tactics.
11:06I can't tell you.
11:08But very bravely, and addressing everywhere, chaired by this population.
11:14Because I was not overthrown.
11:16I was forced out of Uganda by the invading force, who are six times bigger than my army.
11:27And therefore, I cannot put my army to commit suicide.
11:32You seem to set great store by your British army background still.
11:37It sounds as if the British army code book and so forth worked last year.
11:41I'm very proud about the British, because I am a trained officer in the British army, in the war ministers,
11:49and I've been also to Cumberland Staff College, with the most top British high-ranking,
11:57who actually fought very bravely, highly hero of 1945 Second World War.
12:07And therefore, I use British tactics, and I love the British very much.
12:14And I think any misunderstanding between me and the British is you, the journalists.
12:21Because journalists can bring you up nicely in the world, and the journalists can destroy you.
12:31And therefore, the image of me and the friendship between me and the British was destroyed by the journalists.
12:41The bluster, the bombast of the same big daddy who oppressed Uganda for eight appalling years.
12:46But whatever his threat, or his wish to become some sort of power broker in the continuing Uganda crisis,
12:53he is a spent force.
12:54His army is in tatters around Uganda's borders.
12:57He's humoured here, pampered, but he lacks credibility, even among his longest-suffering allies, the Arabs.
13:05This is Brian Barron at Big Daddy's Secret Refuge.
13:08This is Brian Barron at Big Daddy's Secret Refuge.
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