The 'National Resistance Army' ('NRA'), the military wing of the
National Resistance Movement (NRM), was a rebel army that waged a guerilla war, commonly referred to as the
Luwero War or "the war in the bush", against the government of
Milton Obote, and later that of
Tito Okello.
NRA was formed in 1981 when
Yoweri Museveni's
Popular Resistance Army (PRA) merged with ex-president
Yusuf Lule's group, the
Uganda Freedom Fighters (UFF). Museveni, then leader of the
Uganda Patriotic Movement party, alleged electoral fraud and declared an armed rebellion, following the victory of
Uganda Peoples Congress in the bitterly disputed
1980 general elections.
[1]
Museveni, who had guerrilla war experience with the
Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in Mozambique, and his own
Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) formed in Tanzania to fight
Idi Amin, led the NRA to victory against Ugandan government troops (
UNLA) in 1986. NRA then became the national army, and was renamed
Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF).
References
1. "A Country Study: The Second Obote Regime: 1981-85", ''Library of Congress Country Studies''