An obituary for Amin published in 'The Sydney Morning Herald' on 18 August 2003 eloquently summarizes the predicament.

"Amin's tragedy, like that of so many Africans, was to have admired a civilization whose external trappings he strongly desired, but of whose internal workings he had no idea, while at the same time he was partly enclosed in the mental world of a primitive tribalist," the obituary concludes. "He was a product of multiculturalism, African-style, and able to use relatively advanced methods to achieve brutal, primitive ends. Like every African dictator, he was confusion's masterpiece."