Word: amins
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...political gathering held on the home turf of Uganda's dictatorial President Idi Amin Dada was bound to be a bit bizarre. The twelfth annual summit of the Organization of African Unity in Kampala last week easily lived up-or down-to expectations. "I will not embarrass you because of the confidence you have shown in me," "Big Daddy" promised as he became OAU chairman for the coming year. Nonetheless President Amin-who had generously promoted himself to the rank of field marshal for the occasion-proceeded to put on a divertissement that could not fail to embarrass delegates...
...host nation for each year's summit. Perhaps fearing the worst, moderate African leaders plotted desperately to bypass Big Daddy when Uganda's turn as host rolled unavoidably around this year. In the past, the continent's heads of state have tended to ignore Amin's buffoonery and instability. Recently, though, they have been embarrassed by growing evidence of his brutal actions. Since Big Daddy seized power four years ago, an estimated 50,000 enemies of his regime have been murdered. He has expelled another 50,000 longtime Asian residents from his country and amply displayed...
Olive Branch. London took some hope from a five-page telegram that Amin fired off to the Queen later in the week. Nostalgically recalling his 1971 visit to Britain, Amin wrote that he was still ready to receive Callaghan. Seizing on what seemed to be a tentative olive branch, Prime Minister Harold Wilson replied that Callaghan would go to Uganda for talks about "the whole range of political, economic, cultural and technical problems"-as soon as Hills' death sentence had been revoked...
...Daddy has several reasons for wanting to settle the matter quickly. The summit meeting of the 43-nation Organization of African Unity is scheduled to be held next month in Kampala, and Amin, as the host, desperately wants it to be a success. Last week the government of Botswana announced that it would boycott the Kampala meeting because of Amin's "disregard for the sanctity of human life." Several other member states, possibly including Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia, may do the same...
...Amin's delight in twisting the British lion's tail may take precedence over other considerations. At week's end Radio Uganda announced that several more British citizens had been arrested on treason charges and would be tried by a military tribunal. "Their cases," the statement added, "are even worse than Hills...