August 20, 1984

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.)