World Notes Uganda

Still another Ugandan government seemed on the verge of falling last week. Only six months after a coup had toppled the corrupt and bloody regime of President Apollo Milton Obote, an estimated 3,000 rebels from a group that calls itself the National Resistance Army moved into the capital, Kampala, and quickly captured a major portion of the city. Some government troops retreated to the suburbs, but others stayed behind, fighting back with heavy mortar barrages. In the exchange of gunfire, both a hospital and a church were hit. At least 20 people were reported killed or wounded.

Skirmishes between various military groups have been commonplace since the July coup. Uganda's new leader, Major General Tito Okello, had appealed to the rebels to lay down their guns and join his government. On Dec. 17 he met with Insurgent Leader Yoweri Museveni in neighboring Kenya and signed a peace accord that called for Museveni to become deputy chairman of a restructured military council. But the truce soon fell apart. In Uganda, generals may come and go, but the blood always seems to flow.