Newspapers shed no tears for ‘monster’ Amin

NEWSPAPERS in east Africa yesterday shed no tears at the death of Idi Amin, the former Ugandan dictator whose blood-drenched reign in the 1970s left hundreds of thousands dead in one of Africa’s most shameful episodes.

Uganda's state-owned New Vision newspaper carried a black and white photo of Amin, who died on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, above a caption that proclaimed: "End of an era, with the death of Africa's bloodiest despot."

The paper closed the blood-soaked Amin chapter with a verse from the bible. "Now you are as weak as we are! You are one of us! You used to be honoured with the music of harps but now you are in the world of the dead. You lie on a bed of maggots and are covered with a blanket of worms," said the verse.