"Our father had his faults. I do not see the period of his rule in Uganda with "rose tinted glasses". However, we need to counter balance history with all the truth!" (Jaffar Amin).

Madaraka Nyerere and Jaffar Amin give Lessons in Peace, Truth and Reconciliation.  Please scroll below to read.


Please click on "Beyond Butiama" on the Main Menu, for information about Jaffar Amin's agenda for PEACE, TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION after a historic meeting and Reconciliation Ceremony he had with Madaraka Nyerere.


Please click on "Julius Nyerere & Amin" on the Main Menu for information on the historic meeting and Reconciliation Ceremony between Jaffar Amin and Madaraka Nyerere and what Madaraka had to say.


IDI AMIN: HERO OR VILLAIN? HIS SON JAFFAR AMIN AND OTHER PEOPLE SPEAK.   For additional information on this unprecedented series, please click on Hero or Villain? Series on the Main Menu. 

REFLECTIONS BY MARGARET AKULIA
In 1978 war erupted between Uganda under Idi Amin Dada and Tanzania under Julius Nyerere, which led to the ouster of Idi Amin Dada from power in Uganda on April 10, 1979. Prior to this war, relations between Julius Nyerere and Idi Amin Dada had become severely strained after Julius Nyerere offered sanctuary to President Apollo Milton Obote whom Idi Amin Dada overthrew in a Military Coup on January 25, 1971. Thirty years after the war that cost Ugandans and Tanzanians so many lives and left survivors with deeply rooted scars, Julius Nyerere’s son Madaraka and Idi Amin’s son Jaffar met for the first time on the eve of the 30 year anniversary of the 1979 war on Thursday, April 9, 2009, in an effort to promote PEACE in the world over WAR! The meeting was part of a Program offered by BBC World Service, spearheaded by BBC Swahili, to commemorate the 30 year Anniversary of a war that should never have happened! The meeting between Madaraka and Jaffar on April 9, 2009 spoke to efforts by a younger generation of "First Sons" committed to resolving conflict by peaceful means and not war. In addition, the meeting spoke to the responsibility of "First Sons" to seek Truth and Reconciliation while correcting mistakes made by their parents. We consider Jaffar Amin and Madaraka Nyerere as role models for younger and future generations and support their efforts to promote Peace, Truth and Reconciliation.


Jaffar Amin is in the process of establishing the Al-Amin Foundation whose aims include but are not limited to realizing Genuine Peace and Reconciliation in Uganda, attaining Social Justice and Building a Just Local and Global Community and Society. He looks forward to working with Madaraka Nyerere and other "First Sons" in undertaking activities and implementing projects and programs that are also aimed at promoting growth in their respective countries! 

 

Please click on the link below for additional information about the unprecedented meeting between Madaraka Nyerere and Jaffar Amin and Reflections by Jaffar Amin. Scroll to the bottom of the page for a message from Jaffar Amin.

PRESS RELEASE - Amin meets Nyerere: BBC Swahili spearheads meeting of the sons

The Senior Amin is featured below greeting a cheering crowd in a 1971 photograph, after overthrowing Apollo Milton Obote in a Military Coup and being hailed "Jogoo! Jogoo!" (Hero! Hero!), by fellow soldiers. Many Ugandans welcomed the Military Coup by Idi Amin in 1971 and vowed undying allegiance. Others took a more cautious "wait and see" approach. On the day of the Military Coup, large crowds of Ugandans rejoiced deliriously. They demonstrated their support for Idi Amin by flooding the streets of Kampala, "dancing" and "singing" to their heart’s content. Even Britain that had "granted" Uganda so-called "Independence" from its "colonial clutches" a mere 8 years and 3 months before on October 9, 1962 was one of the first countries to announce that it had recognized Uganda’s military government under Idi Amin. It happened the same day Idi Amin took over power from Obote!

On January 25, 1971, Idi Amin became the Commander in Chief of Uganda, "The Pearl of Africa"! He ruled Uganda from January 25, 1971 to April 11, 1979 when he was overthrown and forced to live in exile, first in Libya and then in Saudi Arabia where he died on August 16, 2003. At the time of Idi Amin’s demise, a lot had been written about him, some of it captured in Documentaries and Feature Films - the most recent at the time of the compilation of the Introductory Edition of the series Idi Amin: Hero or Vallain? His Son Jaffar Amin and Other People Speak being the fictionalized hit movie "The Last King of Scotland", starring African American Forest Whitaker who won a much deserved Award for the role.

But who was Idi Amin and how did he end up on the slippery path that led to him becoming one of the most reviled figures in history? How did this happen after initially being hailed "Jogoo! Jogoo!" (Hero! Hero!) by colleagues, being cheered by large crowds of Ugandans and being recognized by governments around the world?

Have book authors and filmmakers that have attempted to tell the story of Idi Amin to date really delved deep enough to uncover E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G there is to know about Idi Amin and E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G there is to tell about him and W-H-A-T R-E-A-L-L-Y H-A-P-P-E-N-E-D? "No" says Jaffar Amin Idi Amin's son.

During their life in exile, the inquisitive and very bold Jaffar Amin, poked, pried, prodded and asked his father very tough questions to which Idi Amin provided never before heard and published answers that Jaffar wishes to share. He includes many of his father’s answers in his projects.  In asking his father the tough questions, Jaffar wanted to get to the root of what happened and why his daddy was being called some of the worst names in human history (including being referred to as the DEVIL) and he did get some answers!!!

Imagine taking on Idi Amin and now boldly coming forward to tell a son’s side of the Idi Amin Saga when most people would have "crawled into a hole"!

But Jaffar is not alone in wanting all of the truth uncovered. So, scroll below for a message from him and stay tuned for the unprecedented series "IDI AMIN: HERO OR VILLAIN? HIS SON JAFFAR AMIN AND OTHER PEOPLE SPEAK" and other projects that include never before shared information about the life of the PRIVATE AND PUBLIC IDI AMIN as experienced by Jaffar and his siblings, immediate family members and intimate friends and associates of idi Amin.  If you think you know Idi Amin and his story and have already heard it all, wait till you read Jaffar and other people's books!  

Compare details in these projects with details contained in the Fictional Novel and Feature Film "THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND" starring Award Winning Film Star Forest Whitaker. Ask questions and participate in discussions that will be incorporated into the projects.

A MESSAGE FROM JAFFAR AMIN (FEATURED IN A PHOTOGRAPH ABOVE)

Welcome to the website I have created to discuss issues and projects related to my father Idi Amin!

Over the past couple of months, I have concentrated on providing mostly background information, which has never seen the light of day. I now wish to move towards a more dynamic website involving regular interaction with people interested in knowing more about my father and his legacy.

I am especially but not only interested in linking up to Humanities Departments in reputable universities globally that are interested in studying my father Idi Amin. My wish is for Humanities Departments to take apart my arguments along with other people's arguments about my father but also come to a well rounded opinion of the Man and the Collateral Damage the COLD WAR did to the so-called third world during the 70s and indeed the eighties.  Today Islam is the new Enemy!

For anyone who will be brave enough to open up a South African Style Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Uganda, here is information that will be helpful:

Dad always said, "they took up arms to fight me using low level intensity war-fare and Maoist style Marxist tactics that involved Political Assassinations of key prominent officials that were blamed on me".

My father was very much a product of Colonialism with anti- insurgency training and action against the Mau Mau. So, he was more likely to search and destroy pockets of resistance or capture, set up a Military Tribunal and Humiliate the Vanquished Prisoners. Any who were found to have committed treason where put on Firing Squad. That was his Brutal style, very much in the mold of our Islamic public execution method which is thought to act as a deterrent.

He was not one to bump people off in the dark... He always adamantly refuted the American style (Nagasaki-Hiroshima) scorched earth policy, or wiping out whole villages, which he considered as a Maoist style.

He stood and based his arguments on the grounds that they fought him, he fought back, but he did not kill innocents, and he left all Judgment to Allah.....

I was with him continuously between 1979-1984 in Libya and Saudi Arabia, then I left for England but always came for my extended vacations between September and January 1985-1990, when I came back to Uganda for good.

I was more of a friend than a son to him. It always surprised the rest of the family, the way I talked to him and also his ready responses to sensitive questions I would ask or imply. "Baba by you keeping quiet you are implying that all that trash they write about you is true?" He would respond in a very Jewish manner with a Question "why do you think I send you to school, Hmmm? You answer them...."

This has become my Mission Statement..

I need the world to understand. I do not need this website to become another run of the mill Blog.... I want it to be an Alternative Research Centre through people's interactive responses in the near future.