Idi Amin Dada

''Idi Amin Dada'' (c.1925<ref name=birth_date_place>Many sources, like Encyclop¯¯dia Britannica, Encarta and the Columbia Encyclopedia, hold that Amin was born in Koboko or Kampala circa 1925, and that the exact date of his birth is unknown. Researcher Fred Guweddeko claimed that Amin was born on 17 May 1928,[http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/special_adi-amin-profile/Rejected_then_taken_in_by_dad_a_timeline_2.shtml], but that is disputed.[http://www.mail-archive.com/ugandanet@kym.net/msg06472.html] The only certainty is that Amin was born some time during the mid-1920s.</ref> &ndash; 16 August 2003), commonly known as ''Idi Amin'', was a Ugandan military dictator and the president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles, in 1946, and advanced to the rank of Major General and Commander of the Ugandan Army. He took power in a military coup in January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings and the expulsion of Asians from Uganda. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is unknown; estimates from human rights groups range from 100,000 to 500,000. From 1977 to 1979, Amin titled himself as "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor<ref name=doctorate>He conferred a doctorate of law on himself from Makerere University. </ref> Idi Amin Dada, VC,<ref>Victorious Cross (VC) was a medal made to emulate the British Victoria Cross.</ref> 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."<ref></ref> In 1975&ndash;1976, despite opposition, Amin became the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, a pan-Africanist group designed to promote solidarity of the African states.<ref></ref> During the 1977&ndash;1979 period, Uganda was appointed to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.<ref>[http://www.ypfp.org/the_last_king_of_scotland_idi_amin_and_the_united_nations The Last King of Scotland, Idi Amin, and the United Nations]</ref> Dissent within Uganda, and Amin's attempt to annex the Kagera province of Tanzania in 1978, led to the Uganda-Tanzania War and the fall of his regime in 1979. Amin fled to Libya, before relocating to Saudi Arabia in 1981, where he died in 2003.