THE Ugandan government and Lord’s Resistance Army rebels are set to halt fighting after a brutal 19-year conflict that left thousands dead, officials said.

THE UN humanitarian chief travelled to northern Uganda over the weekend to highlight what he called a forgotten humanitarian crisis, with about two million people made homeless and tens of thousands of children abducted in the region's 20-year insurgency.

President Yoweri Museveni overwhelmingly won re-election in Uganda’s first multiparty elections in 25 years, according to official results announced today, but the leading opposition party said its independent tally indicated otherwise.

Unofficial results released by newspapers and radio stations today showed a tight race between incumbent President Yoweri Museveni and his leading challenger, Kizza Besigye, in Uganda’s first multiparty election.

UGANDA’S main opposition leader was released on bail yesterday, and greeted some 12,000 supporters outside the court where he is on trial for charges he says were fabricated to keep him out of next month’s presidential election.

Uganda’s military tribunal today ordered the main opposition leader to appear for trial tomorrow, although his lawyers have protested that prison officials have refused confidential access and insisted on reading all documents.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other Commonwealth leaders began talks in Malta today aimed at sending a clear message to next month’s world trade talks in Hong Kong that poor countries are impatient to see benefits from global markets.

Rebels in northern Uganda ambushed a truckload of civilians that included school children and killed seven people, prompting an army counterattack that left three rebels dead, officials said today.

Ugandans voted today on whether to allow multiparty politics after 19 years of President Yoweri Museveni’s so-called “no-party democracy”.

Ugandan rebels burned and looted six villages in remote southern Sudan, killing at least 100 people and forcing some 15,000 to flee, a religious leader and Sudanese rebels said.

Government troops backed by helicopter gunships attacked rebel bases in remote hills in northern Uganda, killing 11 insurgents.

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni apologised yesterday for a rebel attack in northern Uganda last weekend that killed dozens of people, and blamed it on army mistakes.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni today blamed last weekend’s devastating rebel attack in northern Uganda on “mistakes” by the army and apologised to the region’s people.

SCORES of rebels attacked a displaced persons' camp in northern Uganda, shooting people as they fled and burning others alive in their huts.

Idi Amin Dada, one of Africa’s most notorious dictators, is in a coma in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, sources at the hospital said today.

Idi Amin Dada, one of Africa’s most notorious dictators, is in a coma in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported today.

More than 50 people have been burned and hacked to death when rebels attacked a village in northern Uganda.

Ugandans are set to choose between former guerrilla leader President Yoweri Museveni and his former bush war ally in the country's general election.