Location: Uganda, East Africa (1971-1979)🇺🇬
Story: Idi Amin, a former army cook and boxing champion, seized power in Uganda in a 1971 military coup. His regime quickly descended into brutal paranoia, with his secret police (the State Research Bureau) executing an estimated 300,000 people. Bodies clogged the Nile. In 1972, he abruptly expelled Uganda's Asian population, crashing the economy. 📈
Twist: While his nation suffered, Amin captivated the world with surreal buffoonery. He bestowed upon himself absurdly grand titles, including "Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas." He wrote bizarre, flirtatious letters to Queen Elizabeth II and performed stunts like being carried on a throne by white businessmen. This grotesque comedy distracted many from the horror underneath. Unlike other dictators, Amin escaped justice, living in luxury exile in Saudi Arabia until his peaceful death in 2003—a stark, unjust contrast to the violent ends of his victims. 👑📜