DSO may refer to:

Decorations

• Distinguished Service Order (disambiguation) refers to a number of decorations

Music

• Dallas Symphony Orchestra
• Dark Star Orchestra
• Deathspell Omega, a French black metal band
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
• Diablo Swing Orchestra
• Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra

Computers and electronics

• Digital Sampling Oscilloscope, samples measurements and displays or stores them
• Digital storage oscilloscope
• Dynamic Shared Object, a library of subroutines in Unix-like systems

Entertainment

• Dark Sun Online
• Dark Star One

Other

• Days Sales Outstanding
• Deep sky object
• Defence Science Organisation, now known as DSO National Laboratories, Singapore
• Defense Sciences Office (DARPA), one of the seven program offices of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• Direct Shipping Ore, referring to iron ore that can be shipped directly to a steel furnace
• Directorate of Special Operations, South African law-enforcement agency
• Direct service organisation, a business unit of a United Kingdom local authority
• Distribution system operator in the electricity supply industry
• Diving safety officer
• Division Special Operations (Germany) (Division Spezielle Operationen), part of Germany's Bundeswehr
• Dubai Silicon Oasis, corporate free zone in UAE
• Groupe DSO, Australian headquartered business cooperative

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Deathspell Omega are a French black metal band. Their lyrical content deals primarily with Satanism on a metaphysical level – as the band has stated that "all other interpretations of Satan are intellectually invalid"^[1] – and other various theological topics. They have recently completed a series of three concept albums which focus on the theological aspects of God, Satan and man's relationship with the two. Some of their lyrical inspiration has come from the post-surrealist Georges Bataille^[1] as well as existentialist themes.^[2]

Biography[link]

Initially, Deathspell Omega produced raw, traditional black metal akin to Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger. However, their 2004 release, Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice, marked a change to a vastly more technical, experimental, and well-recorded sound featuring such musical influences as Russian Orthodox chanting and choral music.

The band's work after Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice has been even more experimental and technical, with the 5 tracks they released in 2005 – on Kénôse and a pair of splits – totaling nearly eighty minutes in length and actually exceeding the length of Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice. The second volume of the band's trilogy, Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum, was released on July 16, 2007, outside the United States, and the following day within the United States, to considerable acclaim.^[3][4] The band released another EP in January 2009, entitled Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon. The final album in the trilogy, Paracletus, was released by Norma Evangelium Diaboli and Season of Mist on 9 November 2010.^[5]

Very little is known about the members of Deathspell Omega, as the band doesn't have an official website and does not release information about their membership. However, they have given interviews over the years that explain more about their beliefs and ideology.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Infernal Battles (2000)
• Inquisitors of Satan (2002)
• Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice (2004)
• Fas – Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum (2007)
• Paracletus (2010)

Compilation albums[link]

• Manifestations 2000–2001 (2008, Collection of material originally released on LP on the splits with Moonblood and Mütiilation and the Black Metal Blitzkrieg compilation)
• Manifestations 2002 (2008, Eight previously unreleased tracks, initially written for the Crushing the Holy Trinity compilation and a planned split with Cantus Bestiae)

EPs[link]

• Kénôse (2005)
• Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon (2008)
• Mass Grave Aesthetics (2008)
• Diabolus Absconditus (2011)
• Drought (2012)

Split releases[link]

• Clandestine Blaze / Deathspell Omega - Split (2001)
• Sob A Lua Do Bode / Demoniac Vengeance (2001, Split LP with Moonblood)
• Split with Mütiilation (2002)
• From the Entrails to the Dirt (Part III) (2005, Split LP with Malicious Secrets)
• Crushing The Holy Trinity (Part I: Father) (2005, V/A LP with Stabat Mater, Clandestine Blaze, Musta Surma, Mgła, and Exordium)
• Veritas Diaboli Manet in Aeternum (2008, Split EP with S.V.E.S.T.)

Demos[link]

• Disciples of the Ultimate Void (1999, entire release is included as the final four tracks of the band's first album, Infernal Battles)

Compilation appearances[link]

• "Black Crushing Sorcery" on Black Metal Blitzkrieg (2001, End All Life Productions)

Sources[link]

External links[link]

• Allmusic biography
• MusicMight biography

Field Marshal Idi Amin
File:Idi Amin.jpg
Idi Amin addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York, 1975
3rd President of Uganda
In office 8 December 1972 – 11 April 1979
Vice President	Mustafa Adrisi
Preceded by	Milton Obote
Succeeded by	Yusufu Lule
Personal details
Born	Idi Amin Dada c. 1924 Koboko or Kampala[A], Uganda
Died	16 August 2003 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Nationality	Ugandan
Spouse(s)	Malyamu Amin (divorced) Kay Amin (divorced) Nora Amin (divorced) Madina Amin (widow) Sarah Amin (widow)
Profession	Soldier
Religion	Islam
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom Uganda
Service/branch	British Army Ugandan Army
Years of service	1946 – 1962 (UK) 1962 – 1979 (Uganda)
Rank	Lieutenant (UK) Field Marshal (Uganda, self-styled)
Unit	King's African Rifles
Commands	Commander-in-Chief of the Forces
Battles/wars	Mau Mau Uprising 1971 Ugandan coup d'état Uganda-Tanzania War

Idi Amin Dada (c. 1924 – 16 August 2003) was the military dictator and third President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military coup of January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. He later promoted himself to Field Marshal while he was the head of state. While serving in the British Regiment he toured Kenya.

Amin's rule was characterised by gross human rights abuse, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, nepotism, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is estimated by international observers and human rights groups to range from 100,000^[1] to 500,000. During his years in power, Amin shifted in allegiance from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable Israeli support to being backed by Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi, the Soviet Union and East Germany.^[2][3][4]

In 1975–1976, Amin became the Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity, a pan-Africanist group designed to promote solidarity of the African states.^[5] During the 1977–1979 period, Uganda was appointed to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.^[6] In 1977, after the last two British diplomats withdrew from Uganda, Amin declared he had beaten the British and added "CBE", for "Conqueror of the British Empire", to his title. Radio Uganda then announced his entire title: "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Alhaji Dr. Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, CBE".^[7]

Dissent within Uganda and Amin's attempt to annex the Kagera province of Tanzania in 1978 led to the Uganda–Tanzania War and the demise of his regime. Amin later fled to exile in Libya followed by Saudi Arabia where he lived until his death on 16 August 2003.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Amin never wrote an autobiography nor did he authorise any official written account of his life, so there are discrepancies regarding when and where he was born. Most biographical sources hold that he was born in either Koboko or Kampala in around 1925.^[A] Other unconfirmed sources state Amin's year of birth from as early at 1923 to as late as 1928. According to Fred Guweddeko, a researcher at Makerere University, Idi Amin was the son of Andreas Nyabire (1889–1976). Nyabire, a member of the Kakwa ethnic group, converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam in 1910 and changed his name to Amin Dada in which he named his first-born son after himself. Abandoned by his father at a young age, Idi Amin grew up with his mother's family in a rural farming town in northwestern Uganda. Guweddeko states that Amin's mother was called Assa Aatte (1904–1970), an ethnic Lugbara and a traditional herbalist who treated members of Buganda royalty, among others. Amin joined an Islamic school in Bombo in 1941. After a few years, he left school with nothing more than a fourth grade English-language education and did odd jobs before being recruited to the army by a British colonial army officer. ^[8] Amin was also an accomplished sportsman, holding Uganda's light heavyweight boxing championship from 1951 to 1960.

Colonial British Army[link]

Amin joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army in 1946 as an assistant cook.^[9] He claimed he was forced to join the Army during World War II and that he served in the Burma Campaign,^[10] but records indicate he was first enlisted after the war was concluded.^[7][11] He was transferred to Kenya for infantry service as a private in 1947 and served in the 21st KAR infantry battalion in Gilgil, Kenya until 1949. That year, his unit was deployed to Somalia to fight the Somali Shifta rebels. In 1952 his brigade was deployed against the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. He was promoted to corporal the same year, then to sergeant in 1953.^[8]

In 1959 Amin was made Afande (warrant officer), the highest rank possible for a Black African in the colonial British Army of that time. Amin returned to Uganda the same year and in 1961 he was promoted to lieutenant, becoming one of the first two Ugandans to become commissioned officers. He was assigned to quell the cattle rustling between Uganda's Karamojong and Kenya's Turkana nomads. In 1962, following Uganda's independence from Great Britain, Amin was promoted to captain and then, in 1963, to major. He was appointed Deputy Commander of the Army the following year.^[8]

Amin was an athlete during his time in both the British and Ugandan army. At 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) tall and powerfully built, he was the Ugandan light heavyweight boxing champion from 1951 to 1960, as well as a swimmer. Idi Amin was also a formidable rugby forward,^[12][13] although one officer said of him: "Idi Amin is a splendid type and a good (rugby) player, but virtually bone from the neck up, and needs things explained in words of one letter".^[13][14] In the 1950s, he played for Nile RFC.^[15] There is a frequently repeated urban legend^[13][15] that he was selected as a replacement by East Africa for their match against the 1955 British Lions. Amin, however, does not appear on the team photograph or on the official team list^[16], and replacements were not allowed in international rugby until 13 years after this event is supposed to have taken place.^[17]

Following conversations with a colleague in the British Army, Amin became a keen fan of Hayes Football Club – an affection that would remain for the rest of his life.^[18]

Army commander[link]

In 1965, Prime Minister Milton Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle ivory and gold into Uganda from Zaire. The deal, as later alleged by General Nicholas Olenga, an associate of the former Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, was part of an arrangement to help troops opposed to the Congolese government trade ivory and gold for arms supplies secretly smuggled to them by Amin. In 1966, the Ugandan Parliament demanded an investigation. Obote imposed a new constitution abolishing the ceremonial presidency held by Kabaka (King) Edward Mutesa II of Buganda, and declared himself executive president. He promoted Amin to colonel and army commander. Amin led an attack on the Kabaka's palace and forced Mutesa into exile to the United Kingdom, where he remained until his death in 1969.^[19][20]

Amin began recruiting members of Kakwa, Lugbara, Nubian, and other ethnic groups from the West Nile area bordering Sudan. The Nubians had been residents in Uganda since the early 20th century, having come from Sudan to serve the colonial army. Many African ethnic groups in northern Uganda inhabit both Uganda and Sudan; allegations persist that Amin's army consisted mainly of Sudanese soldiers.^[21]

Seizure of power[link]

Eventually, a rift developed between Amin and Obote, worsened by the support Amin had built within the army by recruiting from the West Nile region, his involvement in operations to support the rebellion in southern Sudan, and an attempt on Obote's life in 1969. In October 1970, Obote himself took control of the armed forces, reducing Amin from his months-old post of commander of all the armed forces to that of commander of the army.^[22]

Having learned that Obote was planning to arrest him for misappropriating army funds, Amin seized power in a military coup on 25 January 1971, while Obote was attending a Commonwealth summit meeting in Singapore. Troops loyal to Amin sealed off Entebbe International Airport, the main artery into Uganda, and took Kampala. Soldiers surrounded Obote's residence and blocked major roads. A broadcast on Radio Uganda accused Obote's government of corruption and preferential treatment of the Lango region. Cheering crowds were reported in the streets of Kampala after the radio broadcast.^[23] Amin announced that he was a soldier, not a politician, and that the military government would remain only as a caretaker regime until new elections, which would be announced when the situation was normalised. He promised to release all political prisoners.^[24]

Amin gave former king of Buganda and President Sir Edward Mutesa (who had died in exile) a state funeral in April 1971, freed many political prisoners, and reiterated his promise to hold free and fair elections to return the country to democratic rule in the shortest period possible.^[25]

Presidency[link]

Establishment of military rule[link]

On 2 February 1971, one week after the coup, Amin declared himself President of Uganda, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Army Chief of Staff, and Chief of Air Staff. He announced that he was suspending certain provisions of the Ugandan constitution and soon instituted an Advisory Defence Council composed of military officers with himself as the chairman. Amin placed military tribunals above the system of civil law, appointed soldiers to top government posts and parastatal agencies, and informed the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers that they would be subject to military discipline.^[22][26] Amin renamed the presidential lodge in Kampala from Government House to "The Command Post". He disbanded the General Service Unit (GSU), an intelligence agency created by the previous government, and replaced it with the State Research Bureau (SRB). SRB headquarters at the Kampala suburb of Nakasero became the scene of torture and executions over the next few years.^[27] Other agencies used to root out political dissent included the military police and the Public Safety Unit (PSU).^[27]

Obote took refuge in Tanzania, having been offered sanctuary there by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. He was soon joined by 20,000 Ugandan refugees fleeing Amin. The exiles attempted to regain the country in 1972 through a poorly organised coup attempt.^[28]

Persecution of ethnic and other groups[link]

Amin retaliated against the attempted invasion by Ugandan exiles in 1972 by purging the army of Obote supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups.^[29] In July 1971, Lango and Acholi soldiers were massacred in the Jinja and Mbarara Barracks,^[30] and by early 1972, some 5,000 Acholi and Lango soldiers, and at least twice as many civilians, had disappeared.^[31] The victims soon came to include members of other ethnic groups, religious leaders, journalists, artists, senior bureaucrats, judges, lawyers, homosexuals, students and intellectuals, criminal suspects, and foreign nationals. In this atmosphere of violence, many other people were killed for criminal motives or simply at will.^[32]

The killings, motivated by ethnic, political, and financial factors, continued throughout Amin's eight-year reign.^[31] The exact number of people killed is unknown. The International Commission of Jurists estimated the death toll at no fewer than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. An estimate compiled by exile organizations with the help of Amnesty International puts the number killed at 500,000.^[7] Among the most prominent people killed were Benedicto Kiwanuka, the former prime minister and chief justice; Janani Luwum, the Anglican archbishop; Joseph Mubiru, the former governor of the Central Bank; Frank Kalimuzo, the vice chancellor of Makerere University; Byron Kawadwa, a prominent playwright; and two of Amin's own cabinet ministers, Erinayo Wilson Oryema and Charles Oboth Ofumbi.^[33]

In August 1972, Amin declared what he called an "economic war", a set of policies that included the expropriation of properties owned by Asians and Europeans. Uganda's 80,000 Asians were mostly from the Indian subcontinent and born in the country, their ancestors having come to Uganda when the country was still a British colony.^[34] Many owned businesses, including large-scale enterprises, which formed the backbone of the Ugandan economy. On 4 August 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, except for professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers. A plurality of the Asians with British passports, around 30,000, emigrated to Britain. Others went to Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Sweden, Tanzania, and the U.S.^[35][36][37] Amin expropriated businesses and properties belonging to the Asians and handed them over to his supporters. The businesses were mismanaged, and industries collapsed from lack of maintenance. This proved disastrous for the already declining economy.^[26]

In 1977, Henry Kyemba, Amin's health minister and a former official of the first Obote regime, defected and resettled in Britain. Kyemba wrote and published A State of Blood, the first insider exposé of Amin's rule.

International relations[link]

Following the expulsion of Ugandan Asians in 1972, most of whom were of Indian descent, India severed diplomatic relations with Uganda. The same year, as part of his "economic war", Amin broke diplomatic ties with Britain and nationalised 85 British-owned businesses.

That year, relations with Israel soured. Although Israel had previously supplied Uganda with arms, in 1972 Amin expelled Israeli military advisers and turned to Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya and the Soviet Union for support.^[29] Amin became an outspoken critic of Israel.^[38] In return, Gaddafi gave financial aid to Amin.^[39] In the 1974 French-produced documentary film General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait, Amin discussed his plans for war against Israel, using paratroops, bombers and suicide squadrons.^[10] Amin later stated that Hitler "was right to burn six million Jews".^[40]

The Soviet Union became Amin's largest arms supplier.^[3] East Germany was involved in the General Service Unit and the State Research Bureau, the two agencies which were most notorious for terror. Later during the Ugandan invasion of Tanzania in 1979, East Germany attempted to remove evidence of its involvement with these agencies.^[4]

In 1973, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Patrick Melady recommended that the United States reduce its presence in Uganda. Melady described Amin's regime as "racist, erratic and unpredictable, brutal, inept, bellicose, irrational, ridiculous, and militaristic".^[41] Accordingly, the United States closed its embassy in Kampala.

In June 1976, Amin allowed an Air France airliner hijacked by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - External Operations (PFLP-EO) and two members of the German Revolutionäre Zellen to land at Entebbe Airport. There the hijackers were joined by three more. Soon after, 156 non-Jewish hostages who did not hold Israeli passports were released and flown to safety, while 83 Jews and Israeli citizens, as well as 20 others who refused to abandon them (among whom were the captain and crew of the hijacked Air France jet), continued to be held hostage. In the subsequent Israeli rescue operation, codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (popularly known as Operation Entebbe), on the night of 3-4 July 1976, a group of Israeli commandos were flown in all the way from Israel and seized control of Entebbe Airport, freeing nearly all the hostages. Three hostages died during the operation and 10 were wounded; seven hijackers, about 45 Ugandan soldiers, and one Israeli soldier, Yoni Netanyahu, were killed. A fourth hostage, 75-year-old Dora Bloch, an elderly Jewish Englishwoman who had been taken to Mulago Hospital in Kampala before the rescue operation, was subsequently murdered in reprisal. The incident further soured Uganda's international relations, leading Britain to close its High Commission in Uganda.^[42]

Uganda under Amin embarked on a large military build-up, which raised concerns in Kenya. Early in June 1975, Kenyan officials impounded a large convoy of Soviet-made arms en route to Uganda at the port of Mombasa. Tension between Uganda and Kenya reached its climax in February 1976 when Amin announced that he would investigate the possibility that parts of southern Sudan and western and central Kenya, up to within 32 kilometres (20 mi) of Nairobi, were historically a part of colonial Uganda. The Kenyan Government responded with a stern statement that Kenya would not part with "a single inch of territory". Amin backed down after the Kenyan army deployed troops and armored personnel carriers along the Kenya–Uganda border.^[43]

Deposition and exile[link]

By 1978, the number of Amin's supporters and close associates had shrunk significantly, and he faced increasing dissent from the populace within Uganda as the economy and infrastructure collapsed from years of neglect and abuse. After the killings of Bishop Luwum and ministers Oryema and Oboth Ofumbi in 1977, several of Amin's ministers defected or fled into exile.^[44] In November 1978, after Amin's vice president, General Mustafa Adrisi, was injured in a car accident, troops loyal to him mutinied. Amin sent troops against the mutineers, some of whom had fled across the Tanzanian border.^[26] Amin accused Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere of waging war against Uganda, ordered the invasion of Tanzanian territory, and formally annexed a section of the Kagera Region across the boundary.^[26][28]

In January 1979, Nyerere mobilised the Tanzania People's Defence Force and counterattacked, joined by several groups of Ugandan exiles who had united as the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). Amin's army retreated steadily, and, despite military help from Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi, he was forced to flee into exile by helicopter on 11 April 1979, when Kampala was captured. He escaped first to Libya, where he stayed until 1980, and ultimately settled in Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi royal family allowed him sanctuary and paid him a generous subsidy in return for his staying out of politics.^[9] Amin lived for a number of years on the top two floors of the Novotel Hotel on Palestine Road in Jeddah. Brian Barron, who covered the Uganda–Tanzania war for the BBC as chief Africa correspondent, together with cameraman Mohamed Amin of Visnews in Nairobi, located Amin in 1980 and secured the first interview with him since his deposition.^[45]

During interviews he gave during his exile in Saudi Arabia, Amin held that Uganda needed him and never expressed remorse for the nature of his regime.^[46] In 1989, he attempted to return to Uganda, apparently to lead an armed group organised by Colonel Juma Oris. He reached Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), before Zairian President Mobutu forced him to return to Saudi Arabia.

Death[link]

On 20 July 2003, one of Amin's wives, Madina, reported that he was in a coma and near death at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from kidney failure. She pleaded with the Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, to allow him to return to Uganda for the remainder of his life. Museveni replied that Amin would have to "answer for his sins the moment he was brought back".^[47] Amin died at the hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 16 August 2003 and was buried in Ruwais Cemetery in Jeddah.^[48]

Family and associates[link]

A polygamist, Idi Amin married at least five women, three of whom he divorced. He married his first and second wives, Malyamu and Kay, in 1966. The next year, he married Nora and then married Nalongo Madina in 1972. On 26 March 1974, he announced on Radio Uganda that he had divorced Malyamu, Nora and Kay.^[49][50] Malyamu was arrested in Tororo on the Kenyan border in April 1974 and accused of attempting to smuggle a bolt of fabric into Kenya. She later moved to London.^[49][51] Kay died on 13 August 1974, reportedly from an attempted surgical abortion performed by her lover Dr. Mbalu Mukasa (who himself committed suicide).^{[citation needed]}. Her body was found dismembered. In August 1975, during the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit meeting in Kampala, Amin married Sarah Kyolaba. Sarah's boyfriend, whom she had been living with before she met Amin, vanished and was never heard from again. By 1993, Amin was living with the last nine of his children and a single wife, Mama a Chumaru, the mother of the youngest four of his children. His last known child was a daughter called Iman, born in 1992.^[52] According to The Monitor, Amin married again a few months before his death in 2003.^[51]

Sources differ widely on the number of children Amin fathered; most say that he had 30 to 45.^[B] Until 2003, Taban Amin (born 1955),^[53] Idi Amin's eldest son, was the leader of West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), a rebel group opposed to the government of Yoweri Museveni. In 2005, he was offered amnesty by Museveni, and in 2006, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organisation.^[54] Another of Amin's sons, Haji Ali Amin, ran for election as Chairman (i.e. mayor) of Njeru Town Council in 2002 but was not elected.^[55] In early 2007, the award-winning film The Last King of Scotland prompted one of his sons, Jaffar Amin (born in 1967),^[56] to speak out in his father's defence. Jaffar Amin said he was writing a book to rehabilitate his father's reputation.^[57] Jaffar is the tenth of Amin's 40 official children by seven official wives.^[56]

On 3 August 2007, Faisal Wangita (born in 1983),^[58] one of Amin's sons, was convicted for playing a role in a murder in London.^[59] Wangita's mother is Amin's fifth wife, Sarah Kyolaba (born 1955)^[60] a former go-go dancer, but known as 'Suicide Sarah', because she was a go-go dancer for the Ugandan Army's Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band.^[60]

Among Amin's closest associates was the British-born Bob Astles, who is considered by many to have been a malignant influence and by others as having been a moderating presence.^[61] Isaac Malyamungu was an instrumental affiliate and one of the more feared officers in Amin's army.^[44]

Erratic behaviour, self-bestowed titles, and media portrayal[link]

A 1977 caricature of Amin in military and presidential attire by Edmund S. Valtman

As the years progressed, Amin's behaviour became more erratic, unpredictable, and outspoken. After Great Britain broke off all diplomatic relations with his regime in 1977, Amin declared he had defeated the British and conferred on himself the decoration of CBE (Conqueror of the British Empire). His full self-bestowed title ultimately became: "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor^[B] Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular", in addition to his officially stated claim of being the uncrowned King of Scotland.^[62] He was not a recipient of a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) or a Military Cross (MC). He conferred a doctorate of law on himself from Makerere University^[5], and the Victorious Cross (VC) was a medal made to emulate the British Victoria Cross.^[63]

Amin became the subject of rumours and myths, including a widespread belief that he was a cannibal.^[64][65] Some of the unsubstantiated rumours, such as the mutilation of one of his wives, were spread and popularised by the 1980 film Rise and Fall of Idi Amin and alluded to in the film The Last King of Scotland in 2006.^[66]

During Amin's time in power, popular media outside of Uganda often portrayed him as an essentially comic and eccentric figure. In a 1977 assessment typical of the time, a Time magazine article described him as a "killer and clown, big-hearted buffoon and strutting martinet".^[67] The foreign media was often criticised by Ugandan exiles and defectors for focusing on Amin's excessive tastes and self-aggrandizing eccentricities, and downplaying or excusing his murderous behavior.^[68] Other commentators even suggested that Amin had deliberately cultivated his eccentric reputation in the foreign media as an easily parodied buffoon in order to defuse international concern over his administration of Uganda.^[69]

Portrayal in media and literature[link]

Film dramatizations[link]

• Victory at Entebbe (1976), a TV film about Operation Entebbe. Julius Harris plays Amin. Godfrey Cambridge was originally cast as Amin, but died of a heart attack on the set.
• Raid on Entebbe (1977), a film depicting the events of Operation Entebbe. Yaphet Kotto plays Amin as a charismatic but short-tempered political and military leader.
• In Mivtsa Yonatan (1977; also known as Operation Thunderbolt), an Israeli film about Operation Entebbe, Jamaican-born British actor Mark Heath played Amin, who in this film is first angered by the Palestinian terrorists whom he later comes to support.
• Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1981), a film recreating Idi Amin's atrocities. Amin is played by Kenyan actor Joseph Olita.
• Mississippi Masala (1991), a film depicting the resettlement of an Indian family after the expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin. Joseph Olita again plays Amin in a cameo.
• The Last King of Scotland (2006), a film adaptation of Giles Foden's 1998 novel of the same name. For his portrayal of Idi Amin in this film, Forest Whitaker won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a BAFTA, the Screen Actors' Guild Award for Best Actor (Drama), and a Golden Globe.

Documentaries[link]

• General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait (1974), directed by French filmmaker Barbet Schroeder.
• Idi Amin: Monster in Disguise (1997), a television documentary directed by Greg Baker.
• The Man Who Ate His Archbishop's Liver? (2004), a television documentary written, produced and directed by Elizabeth C. Jones for Associated-Rediffusion and Channel 4.
• The Man Who Stole Uganda (1971), World In Action first broadcast 5 April 1971.
• Inside Idi Amin's Terror Machine (1979), World In Action first broadcast 13 June 1979.

Books[link]

• State of Blood: The Inside Story of Idi Amin (1977) by Henry Kyemba
• The General Is Up by Peter Nazareth
• Ghosts of Kampala: The Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1980) by George Ivan Smith
• The Last King of Scotland (1998) by Giles Foden (fictional)
• Idi Amin Dada: Hitler in Africa (1977) by Thomas Patrick Melady
• General Amin (1975) by David Martin
• The Collected Bulletins of Idi Amin (1974) and Further Bulletins of President Idi Amin (1975) by Alan Coren, portraying Amin as an amiable, if murderous, buffoon in charge of a tin-pot dictatorship. Alan was also responsible in part for a music release – "The Collected Broadcasts of Idi Amin". It was a British comedy album parodying Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, released in 1975 on Transatlantic Records. It was performed by John Bird and written by Alan Coren, based on columns he wrote for Punch magazine.
• I Love Idi Amin: The Story of Triumph under Fire in the Midst of Suffering and Persecution in Uganda (1977) by Festo Kivengere
• Impassioned for Freedom: Uganda, Struggle Against Idi Amin (2006) by Eriya Kategaya
• Confessions of Idi Amin: The chilling, explosive expose of Africa's most evil man – in his own words (1977) compiled by Trevor Donald
• "Kahawa" by Donald Westlake; a thriller in which Amin is a minor character, but Amin's Uganda is portrayed in detail

Notes[link]

• A ^ Many sources, like Encyclopædia Britannica, Encarta and the Columbia Encyclopedia, hold that Amin was born in Koboko or Kampala c. 1925, and that the exact date of his birth is unknown. Researcher Fred Guweddeko claimed that Amin was born on 17 May 1928,^[8] but that is disputed.^[70] The only certainty is that Amin was born some time during the mid-1920s.
• B ^ According to Henry Kyema and the African Studies Review,^[71] Idi Amin had 34 children. Some sources say Amin claimed to have fathered 32 children. A report in The Monitor says he was survived by 45 children,^[51] while another in the BBC gives the figure of 54.^[72]

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• African studies review. 25–26. University of California. 1982. 
• Avirgan, Tony; Martha Honey (1982). War in Uganda: The Legacy of Idi Amin. Westport: Lawrence Hill & Co. Publishers. ISBN 0-88208-136-5. 
• Cotton, Fran (Ed., 1984) The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. ISBN 0-7126-0911-3
• Decalo, Samuel (1989). Psychoses of Power: African Personal Dictatorships. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-7617-3. 
• Gwyn, David (1977). Idi Amin: Death-Light of Africa. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-33230-5. 
• Kyemba, Henry (1977). A State of Blood: The Inside Story of Idi Amin. New York: Ace Books. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-441-78524-4|0-441-78524-4]]. 
• Lloyd, Lorna (2007). Diplomacy with a difference: the Commonwealth Office of High Commissioner, 1880–2006. University of Michigan: Martinus Nijhoff. ISBN 90-04-15497-3. 
• Melady, Thomas P.; Margaret B. Melady (1977). Idi Amin Dada: Hitler in Africa. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel. ISBN 0-8362-0783-1. 
• Orizio, Riccardo (2004). Talk of the Devil: Encounters with Seven Dictators. Walker & Company. ISBN 0-436-20999-3. 
• Palmowski, Jan (2003). Dictionary of Contemporary World History: From 1900 to the present day (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860539-0. 

External links[link]

	Uganda portal
	Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Idi Amin

• The Idi Amin I knew, Brian Barron, BBC, 16 August 2003. Includes a video of Brian Barron interviewing Idi Amin in exile in 1980. The Atlantic – April 1 01 2001 Memo and Quincy LS the series
• General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait on Google Video (Flash Video)
• idiamindada.com, a website devoted to Idi Amin's legacy created by his son Jaffar Amin
• Idi Amin at the Internet Movie Database

v t e Presidents of Uganda Edward Mutesa II1 Milton Obote Idi Amin Yusuf Lule Godfrey Binaisa Paulo Muwanga Presidential Commission Milton Obote Bazilio Olara-Okello2 Tito Okello Yoweri Museveni 1 Non-executive 2 de facto

Detail from the Statue of William Tell and his son in Altdorf, Switzerland (Richard Kissling, 1895)

William Tell (in the four languages of Switzerland: German: Wilhelm Tell; French: Guillaume Tell; Italian: Guglielmo Tell; Romansh: Guglielm Tell) is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th-century Swiss chronicle.

It is set in the period of the original foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th century. According to the legend, Tell — an expert marksman with the crossbow — assassinated Gessler, a tyrannical reeve of Habsburg Austria positioned in Altdorf, Uri.

Along with Arnold Winkelried, Tell is a central figure in Swiss patriotism as it was constructed during the Restoration of the Confederacy after the Napoleonic era.

The legend[link]

Tell's leap (Tellensprung) from the boat of his captors at the Axen cliffs 46°55′57″N 8°36′42″E / 46.9326°N 8.6118°E / 46.9326; 8.6118. Study by Ernst Stückelberg (1879) for his fresco at the Tellskapelle.

There are several accounts of the Tell legend. The earliest sources give an account of the apple-shot, Tell's escape and the ensuing rebellion. The assassination of Gessler is not mentioned in the Tellenlied, but is already present in the White Book of Sarnen account.

The legend as told by Tschudi (ca. 1570) goes as follows: William Tell, who originally came from Bürglen, was known as a strong man and an expert shot with the crossbow. In his time, the Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri. Albrecht (or Hermann) Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, raised a pole in the village's central square, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the townsfolk bow before the hat. On 18 November 1307, Tell visited Altdorf with his young son and passed by the hat, publicly refusing to bow to it, and so was arrested. Gessler — intrigued by Tell's famed marksmanship, yet resentful of his defiance — devised a cruel punishment: Tell and his son would be executed, but he could redeem his life by shooting an apple off the head of his son, Walter, in a single attempt. Tell split the apple with a bolt from his crossbow.^[1]

But Gessler noticed that Tell had removed two crossbow bolts from his quiver, not one. Before releasing Tell, he asked why. Tell replied that if he had killed his son, he would have used the second bolt on Gessler himself. Gessler was angered, and had Tell bound. He was brought to Gessler's ship to be taken to his castle at Küssnacht to spend his newly won life in a dungeon. But, as a storm broke on Lake Lucerne, the soldiers were afraid that their boat would founder, and unbound Tell to steer with all his famed strength. Tell made use of the opportunity to escape, leaping from the boat at the rocky site now known as the Tellsplatte ("Tell's slab") and memorialized by the Tellskapelle.

The Hohle Gasse between Immensee and Küssnacht

Tell ran cross-country to Küssnacht. As Gessler arrived, Tell assassinated him with the second crossbow bolt along a stretch of the road cut through the rock between Immensee and Küssnacht, now known as the Hohle Gasse.^[2] Tell's blow for liberty sparked a rebellion, in which he played a leading part. That fed the impetus for the nascent Swiss Confederation. He fought again against Austria in the 1315 Battle of Morgarten. Tschudi also has an account of Tell's death in 1354, according to which he was killed trying to save a child from drowning in the Schächenbach river in Uri.^[3]

Earliest mentions (15th century)[link]

The first reference to William Tell appears in the White Book of Sarnen (German: Weisses Buch von Sarnen). This volume was written in 1475 by a country scribe named Hans Schreiber. It makes mention of the Rütli oath (German: Rütlischwur) of 1291, the Burgenbruch and Tell's heroic deeds.^[4]

A roughly equally early account of Tell is found in the Tellenlied, a song composed during the 1470s, its oldest extant manuscript copy dating to 1501. This song begins with the Tell legend, which it presents as the origin of the Confederacy, calling Tell the "first confederate". The narrative presented includes Tell's apple-shot, his preparation of a second arrow to shoot Gessler in the event of his killing his son, and his escape, but it omits the assassination of Gessler. The text then goes on to enumerate the cantons of the Confederacy, and it was expanded with "current events" in the course of the Burgundy Wars, ending with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477.^[5]

Early Modern period[link]

Chronicles[link]

Depiction of the apple-shot scene in Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia (1554 edition).

Der Apfelschuss. Fresco by Ernst Stückelberg (1831–1903) in the Tellskapelle, Switzerland

Further reference to William Tell is found in Petermann Etterlin's Chronicle of the Swiss Confederation (German: Kronika von der loblichen Eydtgenossenschaft). Etterlin's 1507 chronicle is the earliest printed version of the Tell story.^[6]

An account of William Tell's deeds is also given in the chronicle of Melchior Russ from Lucerne. This book, which its author dates to 1482, is an incoherent compilation of older writings, including the Song of the Founding of the Confederation, Conrad Justinger's Bernese Chronicle, and the Chronicle of the State of Bern (in German, Chronik der Stadt Bern).^[7]

The version of the legend compiled by Aegidius Tschudi from Glarus in his monumental Chronicon Helveticum (ca. 1570) became the major model for later writers dealing with William Tell.^[8] Not only did Tschudi's chronicle become the main source for Johannes von Müller's History of the Swiss Confederation (German: Geschichte Schweizerischer Eidgenossenschaft, 1780), it also served as a model for Friedrich Schiller's play William Tell (1804).^[8] Tschudi is known to have manipulated documents.^[9]

Veneration[link]

A widespread veneration of Tell, including sight-seeing excursions to the scenes of his deeds, can be ascertained for the early 16th century. Heinrich Brennwald in the early 16th century mentions the chapel (Tellskapelle) on the site of Tell's leap from his captors' boat. Tschudi mentions a "holy cottage" (heilig hüslin) built on the site of Gessler's assassination. The church of Bürglen had a bell dedicated to Tell from 1581, and a nearby chapel has a fresco dated to 1582 showing Tell's death in the Schächenbach.^[10]

William Tell can be found in a Tell play (Tellspiel), whose first performance was probably in the winter of either 1512 or 1513 in Altdorf.^[7] The oldest existing written version of a Tell play is known as the Urner Tellspiel (The "Tell Play of Uri").^[11]

The Three Tells[link]

The Three Tells (die Drei Tellen, also die Drei Telle) were symbolic figures of the Swiss Peasant War of 1653. They expressed the hope of the subject population to repeat the success story of the rebellion against Habsburg in the early 14th century.

By the 18th century, the Drei Tellen had become associated with a sleeping hero legend. They were said to be asleep in a cave at the Rigi. The return of Tell in times of need was already foretold in the Tellenlied of 1653 and symbolically fulfilled in the impersonation of the Three Tells by costumed individuals, in one instance culminating in an actual assassination executed by these impersonators in historical costume.

Tell during the 16th century had become closely associated and eventually merged with the Rütlischwur legend, and the "Three Tells" represented the three conspirators or Eidgenossen Walter Fürst, Arnold von Melchtal and Werner Stauffacher.

In 1653, three men dressed in historical costume representing the Three Tells appeared in Schüpfheim. Other impersonations of the Three Tells also appeared in the Freie Ämter and in the Emmental.

The first impersonators of the Three Tells were Hans Zemp, Kaspar Unternährer of Schüpfheim and Ueli Dahinden of Hasle. They appeared at a number of important peasant conferences during the war, symbolizing the continuity of the present rebellion with the resistance movement against the Habsburg overlords at the origin of the Swiss Confederacy. Unternährer and Dahinden fled to the Entlebuch alps before the arrival of the troops of general Sebastian Peregrin Zwyers; Zemp escaped to the Alsace. After the suppression of the rebellion, the peasants voted for a tyrannicide, directly inspired by the Tell legend, attempting to kill the Lucerne Schultheiss Ulrich Dulliker. Dahinden and Unternährer returned in their roles of Tells, joined by Hans Stadelmann replacing Zemp. In an ambush, they managed to injure Dulliker and killed a member of the Lucerne parliament, Caspar Studer. The assassination attempt — an exceptional act in the culture of the Old Swiss Confederacy — was widely recognized and welcomed among the peasant population, but its impact was not sufficient to rekindle the rebellion. Even though it did not have any direct political effect, its symbolic value was considerable, placing the Lucerne authorities in the role of the tyrant (Habsburg and Gessler) and the peasant population in that of the freedom fighters (Tell). The Three Tells after the deed went to mass, still wearing their costumes, without being molested. Dahinden and Unternährer were eventually killed in October 1653 by Lucerne troops under Colonel Alphons von Sonnenberg. In July 1654, Zemp betrayed his successor Stadelmann in exchange for pardon and Stadelmann was executed on 15 July 1654.^[12]

The Three Tells appear in a 1672 comedy by Johann Caspar Weissenbach. The "sleeping hero" version of the Three Tells legend was published in Deutsche Sagen by the Brothers Grimm in 1816 (no. 298).

Reception 1789–1945[link]

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An allegorical Tell defeating the chimera of the French Revolution (1798)

Sketches of Gessler and Tell by Ernst Stückelberg (1880)

Official seal of the Helvetic Republic

Throughout the long nineteenth century, and into the World War II period, Tell was perceived as a symbol of rebellion against tyranny both in Switzerland and in Europe.

Antoine-Marin Lemierre wrote a play inspired by Tell in 1766 and revived it in 1786. The success of this work established the association of Tell as a fighter against tyranny with the history of the French revolution.

The French revolutionary fascination with Tell was reflected in Switzerland with the establishment of the Helvetic Republic. Tell became, as it were, the mascot of the short-lived republic, his figure being featured on its official seal. The French Navy also had a Tonnant class ship of the line named Guillaume Tell, which was captured by the British Royal Navy in 1800.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe learned of the Tell saga during his travels through Switzerland between 1775 and 1795. He obtained a copy of Tschudi's chronicles and considered writing a play about Tell, but ultimately gave the idea to his friend Friedrich von Schiller, who in 1803–04 wrote the play Wilhelm Tell, first performed on March 17, 1804, in Weimar. Schiller's Tell is heavily inspired by the political events of the late 18th century, the French and American revolutions, in particular. Schiller's play was performed at Interlaken (the Tellspiele) in the summers of 1912 to 1914, 1931 to 1939 and every year since 1947. In 2004 it was first performed in Altdorf itself.

Gioachino Rossini used Schiller's play as the basis for his 1829 opera William Tell. The William Tell Overture is one of his best-known and most frequently imitated pieces of music; in the 20th Century, the "coda" of the Overture became the theme for the radio, television, and motion picture incarnations of The Lone Ranger, a fictional Western hero.

John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, was inspired by Tell. Lamenting the negative reaction to his action, Booth wrote in his journal on April 21, 1865 "with every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for and what made Tell a Hero. And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat."

Following a national competition, won by Richard Kissling, Altdorf in 1895 erected a monument to its hero. Kissling casts Tell as a peasant and man of the mountains, with strong features and muscular limbs. His powerful hand rests lovingly on the shoulder of little Walter, but the apple is not shown. The depiction is in marked contrast with that used by the Helvetic Republic, where Tell is shown as a landsknecht rather than a peasant, with a sword at his belt and a feathered hat, bending down to pick up his son who is still holding the apple.

The first film about Tell was made by French director Charles Pathé in 1900; only a short fragment survives.^{[citation needed]} A version of the legend was retold in P.G. Wodehouse's William Tell Told Again (1904), written in prose and verse with characteristic Wodehousian flair.

The design of the Federal 5 francs coin issued from 1922 features the bust of a generic "mountain shepherd" designed by Paul Burkard, but due to a similarity of the bust with Kissling's statue, in spite of the missing beard, it was immediately widely identified as Tell.

Adolf Hitler was enthusiastic about Schiller's play, quoting it in his Mein Kampf, and approving of a German/Swiss co-production of the play in which Hermann Göring's mistress Emmy Sonnemann appeared as Tell's wife. But on June 3, 1941, Hitler had the play banned. The reason for the ban is not known, but may been related to the failed assassination attempt in 1938 by young Swiss Maurice Bavaud^[13] (executed on May 14, 1941, and later dubbed "a new William Tell" by Rolf Hochhuth), or the subversive nature of the play.^[14][15] Hitler is reported to have exclaimed at a banquet in 1942: "Why did Schiller have to immortalize that Swiss sniper!"^[14]

Salvador Dalí painted The Old Age of William Tell and William Tell and Gradiva in 1931, and The Enigma of William Tell in 1933.

Charlie Chaplin parodies William Tell in his famous 1928 silent movie The Circus (film).

Reception after 1945[link]

Max Frisch in his "William Tell for Schools" deconstructed the legend, portraying the bailiff as a well-meaning administrator suffering from being placed in a barbaric back-corner of the empire, while Tell is a simpleton who stumbles into his adventure by a series of misunderstandings.^{[citation needed]}

Spanish playwright Alfonso Sastre re-worked the legend in 1955 in his "Guillermo Tell tiene los ojos tristes" (William Tell has sad eyes); it was not performed until the Franco regime in Spain ended.^{[citation needed]}

William Tell lives on as a hero in popular culture. He is still a powerful identification figure, and according to a 2004 survey, 60% of the Swiss believe that he existed.^[16]

Historicity debate[link]

François Guillimann, a statesman of Fribourg and later historian and advisor of the Habsburg Emperor Rudolph II, wrote to Melchior Goldast in 1607: "I followed popular belief by reporting certain details in my Swiss antiquities [published in 1598], but when I examine them closely the whole story seems to me to be pure fable."

In 1760, Simeon Uriel Freudenberger from Luzern anonymously published a tract arguing that the legend of Tell in all likelihood was based on the Danish saga of Palnatoki. A French edition of his book, written by Gottlieb Emmanuel von Haller (Guillaume Tell, Fable danoise), was burnt in Altdorf.^[17]

The skeptical view of Tell's existence remained very unpopular. Friedrich von Schiller used Tschudi's version as the basis for his play Wilhelm Tell in 1804, interpreting Tell as a glorified patriot assassin. This interpretation became very popular, especially in Switzerland, where the Tell figure was used in the early 19th century as a "national hero" and identification figure in the Helvetic Republic, and later in the beginnings of the Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, the modern democratic federal state that developed. When historian Joseph Eutych Kopp dared to question the legend in the 1830s, his effigy was burnt on the Rütli, a meadow above Lake Lucerne where — according to the legend — the oath was sworn that concluded the alliance between the founding cantons of the Swiss confederacy.

Historians continued to argue over the saga until well into the 20th century. In 1891 Wilhelm Öchsli published a scientific account of the founding of the confederacy (commissioned by the government for the celebration of the first National holiday of Switzerland on August 1, 1891), dismissing the story as fiction. Still, 50 years later in 1941, when Tell had again become a national identification figure, historian Karl Meyer tried to tie the saga's events to known places and events. Modern historians generally regard the saga to be fiction, since neither Tell's nor Gessler's existence can be proven. The legend also tells of a Burgenbruch, a coordinated uprising including the slighting of many forts; however, archeological evidence shows that many of these forts were abandoned and destroyed long before 1307–1308.

A possible historical basis of the legend was suggested by Arnold Schärer in 1986. He identified a Wilhelm Gorkeit of Tellikon (modern Dällikon in the Canton of Zurich) as the real William Tell. "Gorkeit", he claimed, was a version of the surname Armbruster (crossbow maker). Historians were not convinced, but the theory was once referred to by Rudolf Keller, at the time president of the nationalistic right Swiss Democrats, on 1 August 2004 in Basel.^[18]

Comparative mythology[link]

The Tell legend has been compared to a number of other myths or legends, specifically in Norse mythology, involving a magical marksman coming to the aid of a suppressed people under the sway of a tyrant. The story of a great hero successfully shooting an apple from his child's head is an archetype present in the story of Egil in the Thidreks saga (associated with the god Ullr in Eddaic tradition) as well as in the stories of Adam Bell from England, Palnatoki from Denmark and a story from Holstein.