Amin seized power in a coup. Former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin has died of multiple organ failure in hospital in Saudi Arabia. Amin, who was variously described as 78 or 80 years old, had been in a coma at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah since 18 July. He was forced from power in Uganda in 1979 by Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles, after one of the bloodiest rules in African history.