KAMPALA (Reuters) - Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, blamed for the murder of tens of thousands of his people in the 1970s, died on Saturday in a Saudi hospital where he had been critically ill for weeks.
"We can confirm that Mr. Idi Amin has died from complications due to multiple organ failure," said a senior source at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
One of Africa's bloodiest despots, Amin had lived in exile, chiefly in Saudi Arabia, since being ousted in 1979. He was in his late 70s.
The Ugandan embassy in the kingdom would not comment on Amin's death, referring all queries to his family. Amin's family in Jeddah also declined to comment and it was not immediately clear what would happen to his body.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that if Amin died abroad, his body could be taken home for burial, but officials ruled out any suggestion of a state funeral.
"Nobody will stand in the way of the family returning Amin's body to Uganda," said John Nagenda, Museveni's adviser on media relations, told Reuters in Kampala on Saturday. "It can be brought back and buried privately."
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http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3288255Amin death turns focus on tyrants
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- Ugandans say former dictator Idi Amin, who died in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, used to keep the severed heads of rivals in his refrigerator and once placed some on his dining table to remind guests he was not to be crossed.
After almost 25 years of comfortable exile in Saudi Arabia, Uganda's "butcher," who also fed the remains of victims to Lake Victoria's crocodiles at one point, died aged in his late 70s unpunished for his crimes.
He is unlikely to be the last tyrant to see out the end of his days unprosecuted.
Haiti's Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who fled his island in 1986 after an upsurge of popular protest against his brutal 15-year rule, has been seen driving his red Ferrari around the French Riviera.
Ethiopia's Mengistu Haile Mariam, whose "Red Terror" was marked by purges, war and hunger, has been on a ranch in Zimbabwe granted refuge by his friend President Robert Mugabe.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/08/16/amin.tyrants.reut/
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