On 2 March 1979, rebels loyal to Milton Obote attacked the town, whereupon part of the garrison defected while the rest was routed.

Tororo was recaptured by the Uganda Army in a counterattack two days later;[2][3] many local civilians were displaced by the fighting.

[4] A few weeks later, however, Ugandan President Idi Amin's rule throughout Uganda collapsed and the garrison of Tororo reportedly mutinied yet again.

[5] In late April 1979, the Tanzania People's Defence Force's (TPDF) 19th Battalion, 208th Brigade, moved into Tororo.

Journalists Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey stated that the local UA garrison had fled the city,[6] whereas Tom Cooper and Adrien Fontanellaz claimed that the mutinous troops helped the anti-Amin forces to secure the town.

The UNLA counter-attacked in an attempt to retake Tororo and turn the tide in the war, but was repelled.

This is approximately 209 kilometres (130 mi), by road, east of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city.

[9] Tororo town lies at an average elevation of 1,278 metres (4,193 ft) above sea level.

[19] Tororo has National cement company Uganda Limited (Simba brand), inaugurated in August 2018 and producing 2000 metric tonnes daily.

[21] Electromaxx Limited constructed a 20 megawatt thermal plant, Tororo Power Station, which was commissioned in June 2010.

Rift Valley Railways funded the clearing of the line east to Gulu of vegetation and repairing track and bridges, thus allowing the first commercial train for 20 years to run through on the metre gauge track from the Kenyan port of Mombasa through Nairobi and Eldoret to the Kenyan frontier in Tororo and onwards to Gulu on the line to Pakwach on 14 September 2013.

The Tororo central market was knocked down in September 2017, to make way for a new indoor shopping centre that was predicted to be finished in 2020.

Uganda Martyrs' Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tororo 7.