Idi Amin offered to act as peacemaker in NI

Sunday, January 2, 2005 

Newly revealed documents from the UK government have revealed that Ugandan dictator Idi Amin offered his services as a mediator and peacebroker during the 1970s in Northern Ireland.

Amin, who is infamous for his brutal regime in Uganda, which was responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Ugandans, and the complete expulsion of the country's Asian community, wrote in a message to the British government: "I hold a strong view that we in Uganda, being a former colony of Britain, stand a good chance of mediating between the opposing sides in the crisis that is tearing Northern Ireland apart". Amin, presumably under the assumption that he could become an influential figure on the world stage, continued to say "This serious and regrettable development calls for Britain's best and sincere friends to come to her assistance."

According to the documents released by the British National Archives, Amin's offer was met with a mixture of bemusement and laughter, and a carefully worded reply was sent inviting Amin to mind his own business. In a covering note to the original message, the British High Commissioner in Kampala showed that while the offer showed Amin's "naïve view of world affairs", it was probably "a genuine and sincere effort to be helpful".

Amin was eventually toppled in 1979 by Ugandan dissidents, and the Tanzanian army. He died in 2003 in Saudi Arabia.

• "Idi Amin eyed Northern Ireland peace role" — ABC News (Australia), January 1, 2005
• "Amin offered to help N.Ireland peace" — Reuters, January 1, 2005

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable. Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable. Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication. Please note that this only applies to Wikinews content created prior to September 25, 2005. All content created after that date is released under a Creative Commons license which is mentioned at the bottom of each article. This is currently the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.