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Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Monday, February 24, 2014
Uganda President Signs Anti-gay Law
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| Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has signed off a bill introducing anti-gay laws. |
Uganda's president has signed a controversial anti-gay bill that has harsh penalties for homosexual sex, saying the bill is necessary because "arrogant and careless western groups" had tried to "recruit" Ugandan children into homosexuality.
President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill at his official residence in an event witnessed by government officials, journalists and a team of Ugandan scientists. The scientists had produced a report saying there was no genetic basis for homosexuality which Museveni has cited as his reason for backing the bill.
"We Africans never seek to impose our view on others. If only they could let us alone," he said, talking of western pressure not to sign.
Government officials applauded after he signed the bill, which was influenced by the preachings of some conservative American evangelicals. In its original form the bill called for the death penalty for some homosexual acts. That was removed from the legislation following an international outcry.
The new law calls for first-time offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in jail. It also sets life imprisonment as the maximum penalty for a category of offences called "aggravated homosexuality," defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults as well as acts involving a minor, a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV. » | AP in Entebbe | Monday, February 24, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Desmond Tutu Condemns Uganda's Proposed New Anti-gay Law
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| In condemning Uganda's proposed new law, Desmond Tutu again equated discrimination against gay people with the horrors of Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa. |
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has condemned Uganda's proposed law against homosexuality, saying there is no scientific or moral basis ever for prejudice and discrimination – and accusing the Ugandan president of breaking a promise not to enact the law. The new law would extend the prohibitions and penalties in a country where homosexuality is already a crime, to include acts such as "suggestive touching" in public.
President Yoweri Museveni had first said that he would not sign the legislation, then that he would do so after seeking scientific advice, and at the weekend that he would delay it pending more advice.
The proposed law has drawn harsh criticism from US president Barack Obama and former president Bill Clinton. The US warned that such a move could "complicate" approximately £240m in annual aid to Uganda. In a statement Tutu said: "When President Museveni and I spoke last month, he gave his word that he would not let the anti-homosexuality bill become law in Uganda. I was therefore very disheartened to hear last week that President Museveni was reconsidering his position."
Tutu equated discrimination against gay people with the horrors of Nazi Germany and apartheid-era South Africa. » | Maev Kennedy | Sunday, February 23, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Britain Must Act over Uganda's Anti-gay Bill or Risk Watching an Exodus
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| Masked Kenyan supporters of the LGBT community stage a protest against Uganda's anti-gay bill in front of the Ugandan High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya |
Uganda is facing an exodus of its gay population if the country presses ahead with a controversial bill that allows life imprisonment for homosexuality.
Gay activists in the country believe that large numbers of Ugandan gays will flee if President Yoweri Museveni fails to veto the bill, which could otherwise become law by the end of next week.
The Ugandan leader has been urged by Britain and other Westerns nations to block the bill, but is under pressure from conservatives in his parliament, which voted by a majority in favour of it in December.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Frank Mugisha, a leading Ugandan gay activist, said that hostility to gays in Uganda had increased since the vote, and that many would leave the country altogether if Mr Museveni failed to exercise his veto. Britain, which ran Ghana as a protectorate until 1962, would be an obvious destination to seek asylum in, both because of its colonial links and its reputation as a liberal country for gays to live in. » | Colin Freeman | Thursday, February 13, 2014
Saturday, February 01, 2014
Uganda Archbishop Responds to Welby on Anti-gay Laws
Their letter was sent to all presiding archbishops of the Anglican Communion.
It was also sent to the presidents of Uganda and Nigeria, which have recently introduced anti-gay legislation.
Archbishop Stanley Ntagali responded that "homosexual practice is incompatible with Scripture".
He said he hoped the Church of England would "step back from the path" it had set itself on "so the Church of Uganda will be able to maintain communion with our own Mother Church".
In the letter, Archbishops Justin Welby and John Sentamu said they were responding to questions asked about the Church of England's attitude to laws penalising "people with same-sex attraction".
Homosexuals were loved and valued by God and deserved the "best pastoral care and friendship", they said. » | Friday, January 31, 2014
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Thursday, January 30, 2014
Archbishops Criticise Nigerian and Ugandan Anti-gay Laws
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| Archbishop Welby is on a five-day tour of four African countries |
The letter said homosexual people were loved and valued by God and should not be victimised or diminished.
Nigeria and Uganda have both passed legislation targeting people with same-sex attraction.
The letter is also addressed to all primates (heads of national Churches) in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Archbishops Justin Welby of Canterbury and John Sentamu of York said the letter was a result of "questions about the Church of England's attitude to new legislation in several countries that penalises people with same-sex attraction".
The letter comes as Archbishop Welby starts a five-day tour of four African countries. » | Thursday, January 30, 2014
Friday, October 18, 2013
Uganda Raises Terror Threat Level after Warnings of Imminent Attack
Uganda has heightened its terror alert to maximum for the first time since bombings in 2010 killed 79 people, after domestic and US intelligence indications of a possibly imminent attack by Islamist militants, police have said.
Security staff were recalled from leave and thousands of extra officers were deployed across the capital, Kampala, after the alert level was raised to red.
"Our intelligence and that of the Americans show an imminent terror attack is likely," said Patrick Onyango, a police spokesman.
Uganda had already heightened security after at least 67 people were killed in an attack on the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, claimed by the Somali militant group al-Shabaab. » | Reuter in Kampala | Friday, October 18, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
New Dark Age Alert! The World's Worst Place To Be Gay – BBC Documentary
Sunday, July 29, 2012
NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: In Uganda ist die Virus-Erkrankung Ebola erneut ausgebrochen. Im Westen des Landes seien im Juli bereits 14 Menschen an der Infektionskrankheit gestorben, teilten die ugandischen Gesundheitsbehörden am Samstag mit. » | sda/dapd | Samstag, 28. Juli 2012
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ugandan gay rights activists have condemned the reintroduction of a bill in parliament that calls for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts.
David Bahati, the MP behind the bill, formally reintroduced the legislation after MPs voted last year to pass it over to the new session after failing to debate it.
Frank Mugisha, the director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, voiced disappointment over the revival of the bill.
"We thought it would come back, but with all the condemnation from local and international human rights groups, we had hoped that Bahati would reconsider it, or that parliament would move to strike it down immediately," Mr Mugisha said.
"It is just bringing everything bad up again, but we remain committed to fighting it and challenging it in all ways possible," he added.
Originally tabled in 2009, the bill calls for "serial offender(s)" to face the death penalty, and proposes jail sentences for family members and landlords who fail to report homosexuals to the authorities. » | Source: AFP | Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Thursday, April 14, 2011
THE NEW YORK TIMES: KAMPALA, Uganda — They entered through Parliament’s gates, an eclectic group. Their leader, the Rev. Martin Ssempa, wore sunglasses and long black robes embroidered with matching red crosses and two campaign buttons. One said, “Debate Our Bill Now!” and the other, simply, “No to Sodomy.”
Mr. Ssempa’s mission is to get Uganda’s Parliament to pass a highly contentious antigay bill and eradicate homosexuality throughout the country — or, after more than a year of the law’s languishing in the legislature, to at least debate the proposed law.
To many here, Uganda’s gay population does not represent a sexual minority advocating for its rights, but an underground threat promoting a cancerous vice. They accuse gay men and women of recruiting children in secondary schools, and maybe giving them H.I.V.
In 2009, Uganda’s Parliament tabled legislation calling for the execution of gays under certain circumstances and requiring citizens to report any known act of homosexuality to the police within 24 hours.
The bill drew ire from Western nations and has drifted listlessly in Parliament over the last 18 months. When David Kato, a prominent gay-rights activist, was murdered in January after his photo ran on the cover of a newspaper calling for gays to be hanged, the bill became politically toxic.
But with Parliament closing next month, Mr. Ssempa, a leading religious figure from an independent sect of Christianity, made a last-ditch push last week, bringing a coalition of religious leaders, civil society organizers and two self-described former homosexuals to meet directly with the speaker of Parliament, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi. They presented him with a petition containing what they said were more than two million signatures in support of the bill.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced in 2009, only a month after a seminar with American ministers about “curing” homosexuality and the dangers of “the gay movement.” Last year, an evangelical Christian from Missouri, Lou Engle, held an event in Uganda at which the bill was promoted (though after he left to travel home, he says).
But Uganda, a poor and heavily Christian nation of 35 million with a large American missionary community, has long held its own conservative views on sexuality. Mr. Ssempa says his movement is about African culture, and while the United States has continued to debate its own societal values, similar conversations are happening here. » | Josh Kron | Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Thursday, October 21, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Gay people named in article face violence and abuse after newspaper claims they are recruiting children
Human rights activists have warned that the lives of gay people in Uganda are in danger aftera newspaper published a story featuring the names and photographs of 100 homosexuals under the headline: "Hang Them".
At least one woman named in the story has been forced to leave her home after neighbours pelted it with stones, while several others have been verbally abused, according to the campaign group Sexual Minorities Uganda.
The article appeared earlier this month in the Rolling Stone newspaper, a new weekly title started by journalism graduates. Its publication came just days before the first anniversary of the introduction to parliament of a controversial anti-homosexuality bill that calls for the death penalty for those convicted of repeated same-sex relations, and life imprisonment for others.
Inspired at least in part by a group of US evangelicals with close links to Uganda, the bill was heavily promoted by a few preachers and politicians. Its progress through parliament was stalled after an international outcry, though it has not been scrapped.
Gay activists in Uganda say the proposed legislation has fuelled hate speech and created a climate of fear among homosexuals. The media have played a strong role in this.
The widely read tabloid Red Pepper has previously "outed" dozens of gay people under headlines such as "Top Homos in Uganda named". But the Rolling Stone story appears to incite people to violence against gays. >>> Xan Rice in Kampala | Thursday, October 21, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG – TOM CHIVERS: Ugandan newspaper calls for 'hanging' of homosexuals >>> Tom Chivers | Thursday, October 21, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: As Somalia's al Shebab militants claim responsibility for bombings in Kampala, the Telegraph profiles their spiritual leader, accountant-turned-jihadi Ahmed Abdi Godane.
As befits a man who fears he has a US missile with his name on it, Ahmed Abdi Godane knows the importance of keeping a low profile.
The leader of Somalia's al-Shebab militant movement, he prefers to be heard rather than seen, ranting away in radio broadcasts from his group's strongholds in northern Mogadishu. Thanks to his fatwahs against pop music, foreign films and even televised football, he already has a captive audience - as of last week, though, he made the rest of the world take notice too.
"What happened in Kampala was just the beginning," he warned in his latest broadcast, gloating over Sunday's twin suicide bombings in the Ugandan capital, in which Shebab-backed "martyrs" slaughtered 76 people as they watched the World Cup final. "If Uganda and Burundi do not withdraw their troops from Somalia, there will be more bombings like these."
Delivered with the same fiery rhetoric with which he recently declared himself "at Osama bin Laden's service", Godane's warning confirmed what many outside Somalia have long dreaded: that the Shebab, which has imposed a Taliban-style regime across much of the anarchic, war-torn land, would one day begin exporting its brand of Islamist violence to the wider world.
Last Sunday's attacks, designed to punish both Uganda and Burundi for providing troops to support Mogadishu's shaky Western-backed provisional government, marked the first time the group had struck outside its own borders. Now, having proved the Shebab's credentials as the world's newest international terrorist group, security officials fear it is only a matter of time before Godane, also known as Abu Zubayr, orders similar attacks against the West.
"This is a move into a different league altogether, and will put Godane and al Shebab on the world map," one Nairobi-based security official told The Sunday Telegraph. "He is very much of the international jihads mindset, and wants Islamic rule across the world, from Somalia to Alaska." >>> Colin Freeman and Mike Pflanz in Nairobi | Saturday, July 17, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
SKY NEWS: Those who follow the pattern of the Islamist bombing campaign know that to label it 'anti Western' is to misinform. This misinformed narrative argues that because of various historical injustices perpetrated by ' The West' , radical Islam has begun to hit back, and if only 'we' stopped meddling in the affairs of Muslim countries the violence would stop.
Sunday night's bombings in Uganda give lie to that narrative, as do numerous examples over the last decade. Yes, anti- western sentiment is ever present in the bombing campaign, but the aims of the jihadists are more than that, and, without that context, Islamism cannot be seen for what is; A global revolutionary movement with fascistic tendencies However, the narrative appears stuck in the tram lines and even mass murders such those in Kampala cannot jolt it onto a more wide ranging analysis.
The Ugandan police chief believes the Kampala bombings to be the work of Al-Shabab, an ultra radical Islamist group based in Somalia. If the gang is responsible then the targeting of black Africans makes sense. The victims were mostly Ugandan, and the location of one attack was an Ethiopian themed bar. Uganda has troops in in Somalia as part of the African Union force trying to stabilise the country, and Ethiopian soldiers ousted Al-Shabab from Mogadishu four years ago. Both countries are majority Christian, but can hardly be described as 'Western'. There is a connection to the West insofar as the African Union helps to prop up a government which is supported by the USA and others, but that doesn't explain why Al-Shabab calls Uganda 'An infidel country'.
Al- Shabab has strong links to Al Queda and some of its gang members were trained in AQ camps in Afghanistan. The group has carried out punishment including the stoning of women accused of adultery, and recently said anyone watching the World Cup should be targeted as football was un Islamic. Most Muslims around the world think these beliefs are crazy, but the Islamists continue to believe they speak for all of Islam. Continue reading and comment >>> Tim Marshall | Monday, July 12, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Somali Islamists carried out two bomb attacks in Kampala, killing at least 64 people as they watched the World Cup final, Ugandan authorities said on Monday.
Suspicion fell on the al-Shabaab rebel group, which claims links with al-Qaeda, after the severed head of a suspected Somali suicide bomber was found at one of the blast sites.
If those suspicions prove true, it would be the first time that al-Shabab has carried out an attack outside of Somalia.
The explosions ripped through two bars packed with football fans watching the final moments of World Cup in an Ethiopian-themed restaurant and at a gathering in a Kampala rugby club on Sunday.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni toured the blast sites on Monday and vowed to bring the attackers to justice: “We shall go for them wherever they are coming from."
Al-Qaeda-inspired al-Shabaab militants in Somalia have threatened to attack Uganda for sending peacekeeping troops to the anarchic country to prop up the Western-backed government. >>> | Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
SHE WIRED: Uganda LGBT Volunteer Found Beheaded: A volunteer for the LGBT advocacy group Integrity Uganda was found beheaded on a farm during a search for a missing priest. >>> SheWired Editors | Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
BBC: In Uganda, plans to introduce draconian new laws against homosexuality look likely to go ahead despite mass protests, a major petition, and condemnation from the international community.
The bill, which proposes the death penalty for so-called 'serial offenders', has already been described as 'odious' by President Obama.
A senior minister in Kampala has suggested that the death penalty could be replaced with life imprisonment.
John Simpson reports from Kampala. Watch BBC video here | John Simpson | Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: David Bahati wants to execute consenting same-sex couples, arguing it is a crime they choose to commit
The British government will ban a Ugandan MP from travelling to the UK if he is successful in passing a law that would impose the death penalty in Uganda for being gay.
Civil servants in the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Borders Agency are drawing up plans to block the visa of born-again Christian MP David Bahati if he does not drop legislation that would see consenting adults who have gay sex imprisoned for life and impose the death penalty on those with HIV – which will be called "aggravated homosexuality".
The bill also proposes the death penalty for those having gay sex with anyone under the age of 18, with someone disabled or what the legislation describes as "serial offenders".
It also calls for life prison sentences for those "promoting homosexuality", which could come to mean human rights groups or those who fail to inform on a gay couple.
One senior British government source said the issue could turn into a "major diplomatic incident if the Ugandans do not back down". President Barack Obama has already described the legislation as odious.
The British government's views have been conveyed to Uganda but officials have not received a clear sense of whether the legislature will pass the bill into law. >>> Allegra Stratton, political correspondent | Monday, April 19, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
TIMES ONLINE: There was a time in Kampala when gay men would meet for furtive one-night stands, even if they were prevented from forming lasting relationships in a country where homophobia is rife.
“You would just have sex, then disappear. We were secretive out of fear,” said Peter, 39. At one point, things had begun changing for the better. “You could know where a guy lived and hung out; you could start to form relationships, something more permanent,” he said. “Then along comes this Bill that wants to kill us.”
Homosexuality has always been illegal in Uganda, but draft legislation introduced by a born-again Christian parliamentarian proposing the death penalty for gay sex, under certain conditions, has upped the ante. Peter is again living in fear.
Anti-gay sentiment is on the rise in many parts of Africa. In a bellwether case, a gay couple face trial for “unnatural practices” in Malawi; in Kenya, police arrested guests at what is claimed to have been a gay wedding last week — supposedly to protect them from an angry mob. “They are proposing a witch-hunt,” said Peter. “That Bill could put me to death, or in prison, in many ways. They want to legislate us out of existence.”
The draft law proposes the death penalty for having gay sex with anyone under 18, if infected with HIV/Aids, or with someone who is disabled — or for being what the Bill terms “a serial offender”. Gay sex between consenting adults would lead to a life sentence.
It also calls for prison sentences for those “promoting homosexuality” — which could be interpreted to mean any human rights groups — and for anyone failing to report a homosexual act to the authorities. >>> Tristan McConnell in Kampala | Saturday, February 20, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Pastor's explicit stunt condemned as 'twisted homophobic propaganda'
A Ugandan pastor who screened same-sex pornography in a church to try to bolster support for proposed anti-homosexuality legislation has been condemned by gay rights groups.
Martin Ssempa, one of the main backers of a bill that would impose the death penalty for some offenders, aired the explicit slideshow to several hundred people during a church service in Kampala yesterday. Explaining his decision to display the images, the evangelical preacher said it was necessary to educate people "about what homosexuals do".
He told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "In Africa, what you do in your bedroom affects our clan, it affects our tribe, it affects our nation."
While Ssempa represents the extreme end of widely held homophobic views in Uganda, he does carry strong influence. On his website he describes himself as "consultant to the government of Uganda", and his congregants yesterday included David Bahati, the MP who submitted the private member's bill to parliament last year.
The porn stunt caused anger among gay activists. South African-based gay rights group Behind the Mask described it as "twisted homophobic propaganda". >>> Xan Rice in Nairobi | Thursday, February 18, 2010
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