Ukiah Daily Journal from Ukiah, California • Page 8

8-UKIah Daily Journal, Ukiah, Calif. Sunday, July 28,1985 Military ousts Ugandan President Milton Obote KAMPALA, Uganda (UPI) Ugandan soldiers led by a rebel army commander swept through the capital of Kampala Saturday and announced they had seized control in a coup that ousted President Milton Obote the successor of Idi Amin. An elated Amin who now lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was whisked away to a "high- level" meeting about the state of Ugandan affairs, a spokesman said in a telephone interview from Amin's villa in Jeddah. "Close associates came and ot him to discuss the situation i Uganda," spokesman Josef Titia said. "He is discussing the situation and is quite pleased with the new leadership.

He is happy with the people who have taken over, soldiers he has trained." Rebel troops encountered little resistance in taking over key government offices and communications centers of the East African nation Saturday morning, but at sunset Western diplomats said fighting had intensified between the rebels and troops loyal to Obote. Residents said most of the shooting was by soldiers who had gone on a looting rampage, particularly seeking radios and tape recorders. Lt. Ochala Walter's announcement on Uganda radio of a takeover and the second overthrow of Obote as president in IS years was greeted by cheers and looting in the streets of the former British colony, but it was not immediately clear who was in charge of the country. The whereabouts of the 61- year-old Obote, who like Amin had come under intense international criticism for human rights abuses, were not immediately known.

Obote, elected president in December 1980 amid allegations of ballot-fixing, was believed to have entered Kenya where his wife was attending a U.N. women's conference. Sporadic gunfire was reported as the rebel forces rolled into the capital's downtown area in trucks and buses Saturday morning and seized the Parliament, Post Office, radio station and central bank. "Most of the shooting appears to have been in the air, telegrams suggest there was virtually no resistance in Kampala," said a diplomatic source In London. But later in the day Western diplomats reported that fighting in the capital had intensified and the city was being rocked by gunfire and explosions.

The Entebbe airport was ordered closed by rebels "until further notice." "We are glad to announce to you a total military coup in Uganda today, 27th July 1985," Ochola said in the announcement over Uganda radio. "I announce to you the end of Obote's tribalistic rule. It was a bloodless coup." The officer said he spoke on behalf of Brig. Basilio Olara Okello, whose troops in northern Uganda mutinied this week and started an advance on Kampala. Ochola called on "the honorable" Yoweri Museveni, defense minister under Amin and leader of a 5-year-old guerrilla war against Obote's government, and all senior officers to report to commanders in Kampala "for the immediate reconstruction of our nation." As the official radio repeatedly played the song, "We Are the World," troops entered the building housing the offices of the U.S.

Information Service in Kampala and shot out windows, forcing five staff members to barricade themselves briefly on the second floor. "There are troops on the bottom floor. There is a barrier between us and them right now. We have hung an American flag out the window now and we nope that will help," staff member Sted Howard of Clearwater, said in a telephone interview. The USIS offices are across the street from Nile Mansions, the former headquarters of the Ugandan state security police.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Joseph Reap said the troops later left the building and all American officials were safe. He said fighting continued between loyal troops and rebels and all Americans in the East African nation had been advised to stay in their residences. In Kampala later, a military spokesman in a broadcast announced a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, warned that looters would be severely dealt with and called on soldiers resisting the coup to surrender.

Diplomats said Vice President Paulo Muwanga and six cabinet ministers crossed the border into Tanzania in advance of the rebel action and that Obote's security chief, Chris Rwakasisi, was arrested while trying to flee to Kenya. The Ugandan delegation was in Dar es Salaam apparently to seek help from Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere to help quell growing unrest in Uganda. Tanzanian troops entered Uganda in 1979, forcing the dictator Amin to flee and clearing the way for the 1980 elections that brought Obote to power. Amin seized power from Obote in 1971 and fled to Libya and later Saudi Arabia when ousted. Amin, blamed for killing as many as 300,000 people during his regime, is living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and reportedly welcomed the attempted coup by Okello.

Obote inherited a shattered economy from Amin and Amnesty International accused the Obote regime of systematic torture of dissidents. The United States said more than 200.000 Ugandans had been killed or had disappeared during his five years in office. Obote, who challenged army officers one week ago to oust him, lacked the charisma of many better known African leaders and his health became a major problem in his ability to govern a country accustomed to near anarchy. Castro blasts U.S. for stationing troops in Cuba GUANTANAMO, Cuba (UPI) President Fidel Castro marked the 32nd anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution by accusing the United States of stunting his nation's growth by stationing troops in Guan- tanamoBay.

In a rousing two-hour speech before 140,000 Cubans Friday in the central square of Guantanamo, Castro also called on Western nations and banks to cancel Latin America's $360 billion foreign debt. "It is a matter of life or death for our people," Castro said. "This fight Is compatible with the fight we waged for our revolution." Latin American nations who saw their average gross national product shrink by 8.9 percent between 1980 and 1984 need to pour funds currently used to pay interest on their foreign debt into development, he said. Castro said Guantanamo 15 miles from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay where 2,400 troops are provisionally stationed was appropriate for the site of this year's national celebrations marking the battle that kicked off the revolution he led to overthrow longtime ruler Fulgencio Batista.

"It is significant for many reasons, among those because of the undesirable neighbors we have nearby," Castro said. "They occupied a piece of our territory under a contract that runs for an indefinite amount of time. They occupied a piece of land where one of Cuba's best harbors is located," he said. "There they are, disturbing the development of this region, blocking development of our port installations and threatening our country," he said. The U.S.

base at Guantanamo Bay was established by treaty in 1903 shortly after American forces helped Cuba win its in- dependence from Spain. Earlier Friday, school children re-enacted the raid on July 26, 1953, on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, 52 miles west of Guantanamo. More than 100 school children clad in red school uniforms and armed with long sticks charged the barracks and re-created the battle that touched off a protracted guerilla war that ended Jan. 1, 1959, with the fall of Batista. Castro's 168 guerrillas were humiliated in the short battle, in which only 61 of his fighters survived.

Castro was later captured and imprisoned. Hundreds of volunteers from the Cuban Communist Party erected a grandstand and colorful billboards around the plaza. One billboard depicted a worker carrying a huge burden and read: "The foreign debt of Latin America is Unpayable and should be erased from the books." Pinar de BaiaMno-c' 'L' ISLE OF YOUTH Capital: Havana Population: 9,824,000 estimate); ethnic groups are Spanish, black, and mixtures Geography: 44,218 square miles, nearly as large as Pennsylvania Head of state: President Fidel Castro Per capita Income: $840 U.S. $7,043 Literacy rate: 94 per cent Religions: Roman Catholicism prevailed in past Language: Spanish de Cuba Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Station Industries: Textiles, wood products, cement, chemicals, cigars Chief crops: Sugar cane per cent ol tobacco, corfee, pineapples, bananas, citrus fruit, coconuts Minerals: Cobalt, nickel, iron, copper, manganese, salt History: When Cuba was discovered by Columbus in 1492, about 50,000 Indians lived there.

Cuba remained Spanish until 1898, except for British occupation of Havana In 1762-63. Spain failed to carry out guarantees of rights that ended a 10-year uprising In 1878, and a full-scale revolt began in 1895 under Jose Marti. Spain gave up all rights to Cuba at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898. Although the United States withdrew its troops in 1902, it leased a site at Guantanamo Bay as a naval base under 1903 and 1934 agreements, and U.S. and other foreign Investments dominated the Cuban economy.

Former president Fulgencio Batista established a dictatorship in 1952. Batista fled Jan. 1, 1959, and guerrilla leader Fidel Castro became premier Feb. 16 of that year, instituting sweeping economic and social changes. Chicago Tribune Graphic Source World Almanac Women's conference ends NAIROBI, Kenya (UPI) The U.N.

Women's Decade Conference ended today with a plan for the advancement of women for the rest of the century, but the head of the U.S. delegation said the United States should reconsider its participation in such future meetings. Cheers and applause broke out and delegates danced in the aisles when Conference Chairwoman Margaret Kenyatta of Kenya declared the adoption of the final document on "Forward Looking Strategies" for women until the year 2000. Throughout the 12-day meeting attended by delegates from 157 nations, political issues overshadowed women's affairs, with the United States and Israel coming under attack from the Third World and Eastern Bloc delegates. But a possible walkout by Israel and the United States was averted Friday night when the conference removed language equating Zionism with racism in one paragraph of the final document.

Maureen Reagan, the president's daughter who led the U.S. delegation, said the conference had been filled with "an orgy of hypocrisy," but the United States had still managed to get what it wanted out of the meeting. She added, however, that the United States should reconsider its participation in future women's conferences. "I really do think the United States should rethink its amount of participation that we have in these kinds of conferences," Reagan said. The final document, which is nonbinding and will be submitted to the U.N.

General Assembly for approval, deals mostly with nonpolitical problems faced by women and ways to overcome them. Its adoption was delayed because of several clauses considered contentious by some attending the conference, including another reference to Zionism, a demand for mandatory trade sanctions against South Africa and a call for a new world economic order. World Emergency rule enters 7th day JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (UPI) The state of emergency in South Africa entered its seventh day today amid increasing condemnation of the declaration that has allowed police to arrest and jail nearly 900 people. In London, the International Press Institute, representing editors and publishers in some 50 Western nations, expressed in a letter to South African President Pieter Botha its "great concern" at news censorship imposed while the country is under emergency rule. China also declared its opposition to the measures.

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Bomb blows at African embassy LISBON, Portugal (UPI) A small bomb exploded outside the South African Embassy in Lisbon early today, shattering its windows and door and damaging two parked cars, police said. There were no reports of casualties. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, which coincided with a private visit to Lisbon by South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Louis Police said the blast early today at the South African Embassy in downtown Lisbon was caused by a "medium type" explosive device. On Friday, Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gam a met with Nel and condemned Pretoria's declaration of a state of emergency. Nel was in Portugal to participate in the inauguration Sunday of a statue honoring the strong Portuguese emigrant community in South Africa.

Landslide in Japan kills 5 TOKYO (UPI) Rescue workers are searching through tons of earth and rubble today for 21 people from an old age home believed buried by a landslide that claimed at least five lives in a town north of Tokyo, police said. A post-rainy season landslide Friday sent mud and rubble thundering through the city of Nagano, about 135 miles north of the capital. Police said five people were killed and 21 others injured. Nearly 24 hours after the disaster, police and soldiers were searching for 21 people from the Shojuso Home for the Aged, who were believed buried under the debris, police said. "All of the people we're looking for were old people who couldn't walk," a Nagano police spokesman said today.

'We don't want to say this but it's unlikely they'll be found alive." NOTICE LOUISIANA-PACIFIC PROPERTY IS NOT OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. USE OF ALL PROPERTY IS BY WRITTEN PERMISSION ONLY. LEGAL ACTIONS WILL BE TAKEN AGAINST VIOLATORS OF THIS NOTICE. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT 443-7511..