Gas War

After days of dark hints that he might launch an attack across his border with Kenya, Uganda's dictator Idi Amin Dada suddenly announced that he would not invade "one inch" of his neighbor's territory. For once there was reason to believe him. With upwards of 300 Uganda-bound fuel trucks stopped in Kenya, Amin's country was rapidly running out of gas. Streets in Kampala and towns around the country emptied of auto traffic as the regime slapped a ban on driving by private motorists; Amin fought back the only way he could --by cutting off the electric power supplied by Uganda to parts of western Kenya.

The trouble began last February, when Amin claimed a large chunk of Kenyan territory and made veiled threats to take it by force. Then came the raid on Entebbe in July, when Kenya added to Amin's ire by allowing Israel to refuel its planes in Nairobi. After several hundred Kenyans living in Uganda were reported murdered in retaliation, Kenyan border guards began halting the fuel trucks. Amin last week appealed to the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity for aid to counter the blockade, which he warned "may force Uganda to resort to desperate action."

Costly Cut. Amin faced pressures from another direction last week as Britain took the unprecedented action of breaking diplomatic ties with its former African protectorate. Relations had been strained since 1972, when Amin drove out thousands of Asians from Uganda. After Amin failed to explain the apparent murder of one of the Entebbe hostages, Mrs. Dora Bloch, a British-Israeli citizen, and then expelled two British diplomats, Whitehall decided on the break. It was a costly move for Britain: Amin relinquished responsibility for compensating British firms and individuals for some $450 million in assets seized by his regime.

Was London acting in collusion with Nairobi to invite Amin's overthrow? No, said British officials, pointing out that if Amin were toppled now even more extremist soldiers would probably take over, and Uganda could be plunged into another bloodletting. Nevertheless, given the way matters have been going in Uganda, a coup cannot be ruled out.

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