Uganda: Uganda's main opposition party urged the government yesterday to allow the return of Idi Amin, who is in a coma in a Saudi hospital, but officials said the former dictator could come back only if he went on trial.
Mr Amin has lived mostly in Saudi Arabia since he was toppled in 1979, after eight years of rule in which fellow Ugandans accused him of ordering the murder of tens of thousands of people.
Newspapers said Mr Amin's wife Madina had asked the government to facilitate his return.
"Only God can decide his fate now. His condition is very worrying," she was quoted as saying.
Mr Henry Mayega, an official of the opposition Uganda People's Congress (UPC), said some government officials wanted Amin dead.
"There are people in this government who . . . want to dance on Amin's grave," said Mr Mayega. "The government's job is to look after Ugandans, which is not the case here."
The UPC is not a political ally of Mr Amin - it was a UPC government he overthrew when he seized power in 1971.
A government spokesman denied President Yoweri Museveni's government had refused Mr Amin's return. "Museveni's position has always been that all Ugandans can return, including Amin.
However if they return, they will be subject to the full force of the law," said presidential media adviser Mr John Nagenda.
"If he is tried and convicted Museveni still has the prerogative of mercy but it can only be exercised after he is tried and convicted."
Mr Mayega dismissed suggestions that in his current state Mr Amin was better off in a Saudi hospital, where facilities were better.
"His wife, his next of kin, is asking the government to help return him. "Who knows better about his condition than her?"
Mr Amin is reported to be suffering from a kidney ailment and is said to have refused treatment for the condition.
His health had been deteriorating and he went into a coma on Saturday, Saudi hospital sources said. His family has been told he might not survive.
Driven from Uganda by Tanzanian forces and Ugandan exiles, Mr Amin, a Muslim, was given sanctuary first by Libya and then by Saudi Arabia, in the name of Islamic charity.
He has lived quietly in Jeddah on a Saudi stipend with his four wives.
Although he is in effect exiled, his relatives are free to come and go and several of his children live and work in Uganda.
Amin has lived in exile in Saudi Arabia since being ousted from his East African homeland in 1979.
Under his despotic 1971-79 rule, tens of thousands of people were killed. Some estimates put the figure at more than 100,000.
A former boxing champion, he once expressed admiration for Adolph Hitler.