Amin was born to a Kakwa father and Lugbara mother. In 1946, he joined the King's African Rifles (KAR) of the British Colonial Army as a cook. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, taking part in British actions against Somali rebels and then the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya.

Amin began his rule with popular actions, including freeing several political prisoners. Simultaneously, however, he sent out “killer squads” to hunt down and murder Obote's supporters, predominantly those from the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups, military personnel and civilians. His victims soon came to include people from every order and rank, including journalists, lawyers, homosexuals, students and senior bureaucrats. He expelled all Asians from Uganda in 1972, an action that led to the breakdown of his country's economy.

Amin served as Uganda's president from1971-1979 . His reign was notorious for corruption, human rights violations, political repression, and ethnic persecution. It is estimated that Amin's administration killed between 100,000 - 500,000 people during his reign, earning him the name the "Butcher of Uganda."

Amin was overthrown from power on April 11, 1979. He fled throughout the Middle East before settling in Saudi Arabia. He died in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 16, 2003.Idi Amin had six publicly known wives. Three of these wives he divorced, one died while they were married, and the sixth, Sarah Kyolaba, was widowed when he died in 2003.In July 1975 Idi Amin Kyolaba met when she was a 19-year-old go-go dancer in the so-called Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band of the Uganda Army. That led to her nickname, "Suicide Sarah". The couple married in Kampala in 1975 in a ceremony where Yasser Arafat was the best man.