In 1971
Idi Amin launched a military coup that overthrew the President of Uganda,
Milton Obote, precipitating a deterioration of relations with the neighbouring state of
Tanzania. Amin installed himself as president and ruled the country under a repressive dictatorship. Obote and other Ugandans opposed to Amin fled into neighbouring countries, where they organised militant opposition groups and planned to initiate an insurgency. Their efforts were of little effect until Amin launched
an invasion of
Tanzania in October 1978. Tanzania blunted the assault, mobilised anti-Amin opposition groups, and launched a counter-offensive. After the
Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) had defeated the
Uganda Army in a number of battles, Obote was confident that the Ugandan people would soon take up arms and launch a popular uprising against Amin, allowing the native opposition groups to capture Uganda's capital,
Kampala. Tanzanian President
Julius Nyerere initially supported Obote's plan. He believed that it would reflect poorly on Tanzania's image abroad if the TPDF were to occupy Kampala and overthrow another country's government. As his army further progressed into Uganda, he drew up plans whereby the Tanzanians would advance to Kampala's outskirts, destroying Amin's forces along the way, and allowing members of Obote's
Kikosi Maalum to seize the capital with minimal resistance. Working in
Dar es Salaam, Obote gathered support to launch a new war front in Uganda. To incite the popular revolt and capture weaponry for their cause, a group of Obote's followers—collectively known as the Forces of National Revolt (FNR)—thus decided to launch a raid from
Kenya into Uganda in early March 1979. An earlier attempt by other guerrillas to infiltrate the country from Kenya in January had failed when a boat sank and dozens of fighters drowned. This time the FNR targeted
Tororo, a town located in eastern Uganda which served as a major commercial and transport hub. Its capture by rebels would sever the road and railway lines from Kenya to Uganda. As Uganda received crucial civilian and military supplies from Kenya, counting between 1,000 and 2,000 soldiers. It included a significant number of soldiers who had become dissatisfied with Amin's regime. There were rumours that many soldiers in eastern Uganda were ready to revolt, and that they would muster at Tororo if the opportunity presented itself. Obote's men prepared by stockpiling weapons in
the bush near the Kenyan-Ugandan border and gaining the sympathy of Tororo civilians and anti-Amin soldiers of the garrison. In the process the Uganda Army became aware of a potential external assault and thus trenches were dug around the barracks. Obote made a unity pact with
Ateker Ejalu's
Save Uganda Movement (SUM) and the two agreed to undertake the attack jointly. They informed the Tanzanian government of their intentions, and it approved of the plan. However, the
Organisation of African Unity began an attempt to mediate the conflict between Tanzania and Uganda. Nyerere requested that Obote advance the operation sooner, so as to emphasise that Amin was struggling with internal opposition. Obote assented but failed to inform Ejalu of the change. Obote's followers later claimed that SUM had not been able to organize the agreed number of fighters for the operation, resulting in FNR acting on its own. SUM member Paul Oryema Opobo claimed that Obote's forces were instead worried over SUM's successes in the war, and wanted to sabotage SUM's plans to invade eastern Uganda. Thus, they launched the Tororo raid alone to prevent SUM from gaining any recognition. Some of the rebels who were involved in the Tororo operation were reportedly also housed at a farm in
Bondo District which belonged to Kenyan opposition leader
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. == Battle ==