What was going on when I was born?

A Government spokesman said today that 15,000 people had been killed in political and tribal violence in Uganda in the nearly four years since President Milton Obote returned to power. The statement, by Information Minister David Anyoti, represented the first official Ugandan estimate on the extent of the reported killings. U.S. Reports 100,000 Dead Earlier this month Elliot Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, said in interviews and Congressional testimony that since 1981 more than 100,000 Ugandans may have been killed by the military or died of starvation as a result of military policies, most of them in the last few months. He said these figures represented the consensus of foreign and some local officials in Uganda.

Walt Disney Productions said this weekend that it sought to quell dissension on its board and to erase the prospect of a shareholder fight when it reversed itself late Friday and reneged on its $330 million plan to buy Gibson Greetings Inc. But according to some analysts, the move seems likely to invite other bidders onto a stage already crowded with powerful, warring factions. Moreover, Disney's management, which paid $325 million in June to end a takeover threat by Saul P. Steinberg, is more likely now to be perceived as either weak or handcuffed by a split among its directors. ''Once again, it looks like they are caving in to blackmail,'' said Lee S. Isgur, an analyst with Paine Webber Inc. ''This company is going to continue to be very, very vulnerable to threats from the outside.''

''If it's there, I think we'll find it.'' - Comdr. Chester F. Harrison, searching for mines in the Gulf of Suez.

More than one year after the Washington Public Power Supply System defaulted on $2.25 billion of its bonds, in the largest municipal bond default in history, holders of the securities are still a long way from collecting any interest payments, much less their principal. Holders of the supply system's $6 billion of other bonds - those sold for its No. 1, 2 and 3 plants - are still safe, although a pending lawsuit has fueled fears of protracted legal wrangling over the repayment of those bonds, too. It was a decision by the highest court of Washington State that sparked last summer's default on the $2.25 billion in bonds that the supply system sold for its No. 4 and 5 plants between March 1977 and March 1981. Four months after the last bond sale, in the face of huge cost overruns and a declining demand for power, construction on the plants was halted. Local utilities had signed ''take or pay'' contracts obligating them to repay the bonds even if the plants never produced any power.

MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 1984 Companies Walt Disney's pullout from its offer to buy Gibson Greetings seems likely to invite other bidders for the entertainment company, analysts say. They note that the recent battles it has been fighting signal that Disney has been weakened by a split on its board. Disney said it dropped the Gibson deal to preserve peace among its directors and shareholders. (Page D1.)

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Presidency by appealing to voters who had traditionally identified with the Democratic Party. As a byproduct of his victory, Mr. Reagan created for the Republicans a chance to broaden their electoral base at the expense of the Democrats. Today, four years later, many analysts in both parties agree that the Republican Party, as an institution, did little with the opportunity Mr. Reagan created for it. So, as they prepare to open their convention here, Republicans find themselves in the paradoxical position of having a Presidential candidate of commanding personal popularity, but a party organization with a narrow electoral base and an uncertain future. No Growth in Party Membership The Democrats and independent ''swing voters,'' who boosted Mr. Reagan to an electoral landslide, have not moved into Republican ranks. Nor, despite the pleas of some of its ''populist conservatives,'' has the party done much to welcome them.

Critics are seeking to delay a regulation that the Reagan Administration says would improve its ability to monitor imports of textiles and apparel. The critics claim that the regulation - which the Government issued Aug. 3 and is to take effect Sept. 7 - would strand $500 million worth of foreign-made textiles and apparel that American companies have already ordered. They say that would cause substantial financial difficulties for retailers and other businesses, as well as apparel shortages and price increases of up to 20 percent for consumers. It also could cause China to take retaliatory trade measures, they say.

ABOARD U.S.S. SHREVEPORT, off Ras Shukhair, Egypt, Aug. 19 - Officers aboard this Navy transport vessel searching for mines in the Gulf of Suez said today that they would not stop until they found one. ''If it's there, I think we'll find it,'' said Comdr. Chester F. Harrison, who is in charge of the minesweeping RH- 53D Sea Stallion helicopters that have been operating from the Shreveport. ''Our capability is that good.''

The out-of-towners, a father, mother and teen-age daughter, got off the bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and, suitcases in hand, began to search for their hotel. It was dark and late, and they walked past the honky-tonk of Eighth Avenue onto a side street bounded by a vacant lot. Suddenly, a gang of young toughs sprang out of the night. A knife flashed, a gun was drawn. The daughter was threatened, the father beaten and the mother seriously wounded.

For the second straight day, the Mets blew a game in the ninth inning. Today, the light-hitting Brad Wellman of the San Francisco Giants whacked a two-run home run off Jesse Orosco to sink the Mets, 7-6. But the Mets atoned in the second game of the doubleheader and beat the Giants, 4-2, with Bruce Berenyi pitching his second victory in a week. Berenyi needed help at bat and got it when Jerry Martin hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning. And, after pulling a hamstring muscle, he needed help on the mound and got it when Orosco returned to the scene and saved the game in the ninth.

Sharper competition among dealers and high long-term interest rates are reshaping the huge commercial paper market, making this once elite form of short-term corporate financing available to a broader number of borrowers. This market offers corporate borrowers cheaper financing than either bank loans or the bond market, and greater flexibility in managing debt. Because some growth is coming at the expense of traditional lending, banks are responding by trimming their rates or providing new services related to commercial paper, market participants say. Smaller Companies Gain Access Innovations have allowed many smaller companies to gain access to the commercial paper market, once the exclusive preserve of blue-chip companies. Also, companies whose credit ratings were too low to make their offerings attractive have teamed with insurance companies, in effect renting an insurance company's better credit standing for a guarantee on the paper.

A leading Brazilian theologian has been summoned to a formal interrogation at the Vatican to answer charges that he committed serious doctrinal errors while defending the social activism of important sectors of Latin America's Roman Catholic Church. The theologian, Leonardo Boff, a 44- year-old Franciscan friar, is one of the leading exponents of a radical interpretation of Christian teachings known as the ''theology of liberation,'' which has led thousands of priests and nuns in the region to become deeply involved with the problems of the poor. The principal complaint of conservative prelates is that the theology of liberation has used Marxist parameters to analyze current social conditions and, in the process, has sought to legitimize a ''class struggle'' as the only way of bringing about economic and political change. Charges Stem From Book Friar Boff is to be interrogated in Rome on Sept. 7 by a commission headed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The unspecified charges relate to the contents of a book he has written, ''Church: Charisma and Power.'' But church sources here said they believed the entire theology of liberation would in effect go on trial.