Idi Amin seeks kidney donor

Amin has spent four weeks in hospital

The ailing former President of Uganda Idi Amin Dada is seeking a kidney to keep him alive, according to his son, Hashim Amin.

Two kidneys offered by anonymous donors were found to be incompatible with those of the former military strongman.

Hashim Amin told the BBC's Ali Mutasa in Kampala that two more donors had come forward and that his father was surviving through a haemo-dialysis machine which acts as an external kidney.

Last month, the 78-year-old Idi Amin was admitted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah, where he has remained ever since.

Threats

Hashim Amin also said his father has been placed under heavy guard following earlier threats on his life.

He did not, however, disclose the nature of the threats.

Mr Amin should be kept alive as long as possible, to suffer the memories of what he has done to his victims Robert Morpheal, Canada Should Idi Amin have a transplant?

The Ugandan Minister for the Presidency, Kirunda Kivejinja, said on Thursday that the government would not prevent any Ugandan from donating their kidneys to the man whose regime was one of the bloodiest in African history, with up to 400,000 deaths and disappearances.

The government had earlier helped arrange for one of his wives, Madina, to fly to Saudi Arabia.

Mr Amin's family had appealed to the government to allow him return home.

But President Yoweri Museveni said that Mr Amin would face charges of human rights abuses if he returned to Uganda alive.

Burial

In July 2003 Idi Amin's family was reported to have earmarked a spot where the former president will be buried after he emerged from a coma at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital.

The former president has lived in Saudi Arabia with his entourage for more than 10 years after spending almost a decade in Libya following his overthrow in 1979.

Mr Amin has not been back to Uganda since he was ousted by Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles.

His supporters, many of them northerners like Mr Amin, have been urging the government to allow the former president to return home.