On This Day 14 Years Ago... Picture (attached): President Idi Amin with my siblings at Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia (1983). As millions of Muslims from around the world start departing for this years Hajj pilgrimage, this is the very spot in the desert near Mecca where they are heading to.
Exactly 14 years ago today, my father His Excellency Al Hajj Field Marshal Idi Amin passed away in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. August 16th 2003 will remain a day of sadness in the hearts of Ugandans and Africans who knew him as a true nationalist who strived for Ugandans, and who also took on pan-Africanism and it's struggles against neo-colonialism and imperialism across the African continent. The reason I chose this simple family photo is because as I was looking at it, I realized that 20 years after it was taken, and out of all his children, it is these very three boys plus myself who would be by his side, now grown men, looking after him during his last days. Indeed, according to Muslim tradition, it is also the four of us who would lead the funeral procession upto the cemetery with family friends, Saudi officials, African diplomats, and well-wishers. I urge everyone not to abandon their parents, and I ask all parents to always nurture their relations with their children. That way your own loving children, even when grown, married and living their own lives, will make sure they come back and be there for you when it matters most. It is their religious and family duty. On August 16th 2003, I also remember one unknown West African youth who was walking by in the area, and when he was told whose funeral cortege it was, he insisted on entering the security perimeter, joining us and carrying the casket from the Mosque, through the street, and up to the cemetary. I actually let him take my place momentarily due to his genuine insistence in recognition of my fathers efforts for Africa. The King of Saudi Arabia who was on a state visit to Paris at the time was represented at the funeral by the Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, though King Abdullah himself did make a phone call to us to offer his condolences. The Janaza prayers (the Special Islamic prayers for the departed) was held for him at the three holiest Islamic sites: The Grand Mosque in Mecca, at the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, and at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, with thousands of people in attendance I would once again like to sincerely thank the Saudi Royal Family, the government and the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia for the exceptional hospitality, security and care offered to my father during the 22 years that he lived peacefully in retirement in their country. We the Amin family consider Saudi Arabia as our second home, and I sincerely hope that the economic and political ties between the two countries, Uganda and Saudi Arabia, will continue to strengthen for the benefit of both nations peoples. I would also like to thank the people of Uganda, especially the youths, for recognizing my fathers incorruptible patriotism, and the historic efforts he made for his country, for the people of Uganda, and for the people of Africa. May the Almighty bless his soul and this nation. To God We Will All Return. Signed: Hussein Lumumba Amin 16 Aug 2017
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