General Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan President Milton Obote

Date: 25 Jan 1971
Updated: 24 Jan 2020

On 25 January 1971, General Idi Amin Dada led a military coup that overthrew Ugandan President, Milton Obote while he was at a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore. Amin was a soldier in the British colonial army and became one of its first Ugandan commissioned officers. He was Obote’s close ally, rising to become the army's chief of staff. Amin became famous in 1976 when he provided a safe refuge for hostage-holding Palestinian hijackers, who were later killed at Entebbe by Israeli forces.

In 1978, under Amin’s command, the Ugandan forces invaded neighbouring Tanzania. The Tanzanian forces forced them to retreat and invaded Uganda, forcing Amin to escape to Saudi Arabia via Libya. After a long illness, Amin died in 2003 in Saudi Arabia. The Ugandan government refused his family permission to allow Amin to die in Uganda.

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How we know this

01Boddy-Evans A. “This day in African History: 25 January”, fromAfrican History, [online], Available at www.africanhistory.about.com [Accessed: 16 January 2012]
02Answers.com, “Idi Amin”, [online], Available at www.answers.com [Accessed: 16 January 2012]

Last updated · 24 Jan 2020

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, January 19). General Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan President Milton Obote. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0072837

South African History Online (2012) 'General Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan President Milton Obote', South African History Online, 19 January. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0072837 (Accessed: 21 August 2026).

South African History Online, General Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan President Milton Obote [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0072837, (accessed 21 August 2026).

"General Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan President Milton Obote." South African History Online, 19 Jan. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0072837. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "General Idi Amin overthrows Ugandan President Milton Obote." South African History Online. January 19, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0072837.