Most of the military rulers in Africa have assumed despotic powers only to act as mere supplicants to foreign powers. They form either an expensive facade for a nation remaining stagnant and deprived or a de facto intermediary for and ally of continued foreign economic penetration and domination. At the same time, their inability to fulfil even the minimum needs of their peoples has given rise to a permanent state of confrontation between the rulers and the ruled. Often this confrontation erupts in senseless violence leading to wanton destruction of life and property of a particular tribe or group or a section of the leadership itself. General Amin's regime in Uganda represents the apotheosis of this type of rule.
