{UAH} 1989 : The last time Amin Dada visited Africa

1989, This was the last time Amin visited  Africa. He is seen  here in   Zaire  on a plane that  was to send him back  after Mobutu's government  rejected  his visit and detained  him for one week. 

Amin's travels began on New Year's Day, when  he appeared unannounced at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, on a flight from his home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

Using an assumed name and carrying a  Zairean passport, Amin swept through the airport in long, pink-flowered robes. He put up briefly at the Lagos Sheraton, where he waved enthusiastically at Nigerians who recognized him. 

Then he continued on to nearby Gabon and his apparent final destination, Zaire. It is not clear what Amin hoped to accomplish in Zaire, where he had family and scattered supporters. 

The French news agency Agence France-Presse, reporting from Kinshasa, the Zairean capital, quoted "reliable sources" as saying there was "no doubt" Amin was hoping to get back to Uganda via Zaire. The two countries share a long, sparsely populated border.

 An Air Zaire pilot, however, recognized Amin as he got off the plane in Kinshasa. He   was consequently,  arrested and held for more than a week at a military airport in the capital. 

He was questioned about his passport, which was discovered to have been part of a batch stolen from a Zairean government office several years  back. 

 A Zairean official was quoted in Nairobi newspapers as saying that Amin's presence was a problem. "We cannot allow him in without endangering our relations with our neighbor Uganda, where Idi Amin is still considered an outcast." 

Diplomats in Kinshasa were quoted as saying that Amin's presence was "an embarrassment" to Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko, who once had close links with him. 

After being held for one week , Zaire officials put Amin on a Zairean government plane and flew him to Senegal, where he was supposed to board a flight back to Saudi Arabia. 

That night, however, Saudi officials refused to allow Amin on the plane. The authorities gave no explanation, but one source was quoted as saying he lacked the necessary visas. 

After being stopped in Senegal by officials Thursday, Amin reportedly reboarded the Zairean jet that brought him there and returned to Zaire before being allowed  to enter Saudi Arabia again .  Uganda , news of Amin's travels sparked mild interest but little fear.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Amin should be brought back to Uganda to face trial. He added  that the Ugandan government was in contact with Zaire, and  that it was "high time" his country demanded that Saudi Arabia turn Amin over to Ugandan justice.

Political observers  in Uganda   regarded Amin  as a spent political force . He was  considered much less threatening to the Museveni government than former president Obote, who was in  exile  in Zambia.  Some claimed  Obote's troops carried out abuses that equaled or exceeded those of Amin's army. 

This was   not the first time Amin had  ventured out of exile. In 1980, a year after invading Tanzanian forces chased him out of Uganda, he reportedly made a brief visit to Zaire.

 In 1985, apparently thinking the time was right for a return to power, Amin left Saudi Arabia for southern Sudan, announcing that he intended to lead guerrilla forces against then-president Milton Obote. Amin never entered Uganda, however, and when he returned to Saudi Arabia, officials there greeted him coolly and stripped him of his VIP status.

Amin had lived with some of his family in the port of Jeddah from the   time he was toppled. His expenses were  catered  for  by the  Saudi government as an act of Islamic charity to a fellow Moslem. 

He was known in Jeddah for his habit of sitting down  for chats at local teahouses. In an interview Friday with the British Broadcasting Corp.,

Old, poor, uneducated, grumpy and with rotten village behaviours need not be allowed in civilized world.

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