Amin’s daughter Anite dies

Salama Shida Anite Babi Amin a daughter of former president Idi Amin Dada has passed on. Anite died yesterday in Kampala.

According a message from her brother Jaffer Amin, which he posted on his Facebook wall, Anite was born on November 25, 1965 at Mulago hospital.

She grew up at the Entebbe State House, went to Lake Victoria Primary School in Entebbe, St Theresa Namagunga Primary School and Gayaza High School.

“Our Beloved Sister has passed Away (one of Idi Amin Alemi Dada’s daughters) Salama Shida Anite Babi Amin has died,” he posted yesterday.

He said Anite was a darling to her father, who loved and nicknamed her Bebi (baby) because, according to a family member, she resembled the “Conqueror of the British Empire more than the rest of the children”.
Anite had just joined Senior Two at Gayaza in 1979 when the Tanzanian forces combined with the Ugandan exiles that overthrew Amin.

On April 11, 1979, the day Kampala was captured, she and her father narrowly escaped by helicopter to Libya. They stayed there until 1980, then relocated to Saudi Arabia, where the Saudi royal family allowed Amin refuge and paid him a generous subsidy in return for his staying out of politics.

Three years later, she left Saudi Arabia oscillating between Kenya, Burundi, Angola and the DRC, struggling for survival and hiding from those whom the father offended.

She returned from exile in 2011 after about 32 years of being away in Kinshasha. In 2003, when her father was admitted to Jeddah specialist hospital due to kidney failure, the family requested President Museveni to allow him return home.
Although the President accepted, he told the family members that the former dictator would stand trial for his crimes against humanity.

Amin eventually died at the hospital and on August 16, 2003 was buried in Jeddah. Not much is said about her own family.
Attempts to speak to the family members were unsuccessful as they did not respond to our repeated calls by press time.
Mr Jaffer Amin, who had reported the demise of his sister, did not respond to both our calls and the text messages.
Taban Amin, another of her brothers, could not be reached because his known mobile phone number was switched off. Details about the burial arrangements have also not been shared.