Idi Amin Torture Chamber is one of the most important places in the famous Kampala City tours where travelers go to experience the place and its history. Idi Amin was historically a Ugandan military officer who was a man of his own words and served as the 2nd President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979 famously known as the ‘’Butcher of Uganda’’ and he was considered one of the grievous dictators in African history. However, Idi Amin Dada was born either in Koboko or Kampala. Years went on, in 1946 he decided to join the King’s African barrel of the British Colonial Army as a cook and he was upgraded to the rank of lieutenant to play a role in British actions against Somali rebels in the Shifta War and also in Mau Mau rebels in Kenya. When Uganda gained its independence in 1962 from the United Kingdom, Idi Amin stayed in the armed forces rising to the position of major and being accused as commander of the Army in later 1965. When he realized that Uganda’s first president Milton Obote was planning to arrest him to embezzle army funds, what he did he decided to launch a military coup in 1971 and declared himself a Ugandan president and overthrow Milton Obote in Power thus leading to Idi Amin’s historical life.
However, overthrowing Obote’s power for him to be Ugandan president, he made people suffer and many people were killed during his regime like the many Asians were sentenced to death and some who survived left their big businesses behind and went back to their home country with nothing.
The historical background of Idi Amin’s Torture chamber
The Idi Amin torture chamber is located in Lubiri mengo palace of the King of Buganda kingdom and the purpose of building this chamber was to act as an armory to protect the better keeping of the gunfire. Besides that, by then IdI Amin was Uganda’s president for his short ruling power in life.
The Torture Chamber was built inside kabaka’s palace in a local name known as ‘’Twekobe’’ between 1971 -1972 in the reign of Idi Amin and the construction took over 8 months to finish it. He used Israelites because they were the best Engineers by then and to note at first he told them to build a place of armory but when it was completed he turned it into a military base or barracks. Latterly on, he decided to turn it into a torture chamber which had a metallic door at the entrance filled with electricity and a pool of water in the corridors. The plan was that who so ever tried to escape from there he or she was being shocked by electricity and died on spot. The chamber consisted of five cells inside and the one part which was on the last door as dark as a yawning grave. The number of people who were rested from here were in the cabinet of Sir Edward Muteesa 11 and those who were the political opponents of Iddi Amin, they could first put them into the boots of car and drive them around the city after they could bring them back into the chamber and be shocked with electricity mixed up with water.
Idi Amin was a man of its own thinking capacity who could torture people to suffer and to be killed in restless life during his reign, he never separated men and women they were all tortured together in one cell and he ended up shooting them with bullets and after he could throw their bodies in the water bodies around.
Furthermore, each cell was accommodating more than a hundred people with no window, ventilators and people could suffocate without eating food and water till to death. Over 200,000 people died inside and no one survived. Unfortunately, when Obote came back after the overthrow of Amin, he just started from where Amin stopped. These people were tortured due to dishonoring his government and he further desired to make an extension but it was all in vain because he didn’t have good Engineers like those of the Israelites, they were all being chased away by Idi Amin. All this was the historical background of Idi Amin’s Torture chamber.
As we speak now, Idi Amin died in 2003 but the torture chamber still exists as a testimony of Idi Amin’s brutal life on power and to witness to those who have ever heard about his anger ruling in the country’s history ‘’Uganda’’. To know more about the history of Amin’s torture chamber just undertake a Uganda tour to encounter this place on your Kampala city tour where you will come up with great sightseeing in the city with remarkable experience in life.
Idi Amin torture chamber can be visited in Uganda along with your Uganda gorilla tours, Wildlife tours, and Culture tour.
