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eventREF E-0094900Revised

Event record

Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda

Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda

Date
1 Mar 1977
Updated
30 Sep 2019
Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda

Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda since 25 February and suggests they leave the country. Almost three months later, Amin went to hiding after being wounded following an assassination attempt. In 1972, two American journalists were grabbed and taken out into the countryside and shot to death, their car pushed off the side of the cliff. Apparently, American journalists questioned some Asians who were too scared to talk to the reporters. By then a man who talked was punished by Amin's security personnel.  Amin killed thousands of Ugandans. The International Commission of Jurists estimated that by 1978, more than 100,000 Ugandans had been murdered during his reign of terror.

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How we know this

  1. 01Boddy-Evans, A. ‘This Day in African History: 01 March’, from About African History [online], available at https://africanhistory.about.com (Accessed: 31 March 2013)
  2. 02Uganda Regime 1972,‘Idi Amin's Regime of Uganda’, from Uganda Regime [online], available at https://ugandaregime1972.weebly.com(Accessed: 31 January 2013)
  3. 03Vernon Johns, ‘Rise and Fall of Idi Amin (1981)’,from Vernon Johns [online], available at www.vernonjohns.org (Accessed: 31 January 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, February 20). Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094900

South African History Online (2013) 'Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda', South African History Online, 20 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094900 (Accessed: 8 August 2026).

South African History Online, Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094900, (accessed 8 August 2026).

"Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda." South African History Online, 20 Feb. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094900. Accessed 8 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Idi Amin Dada releases the Americans held hostage in Uganda." South African History Online. February 20, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094900.

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