US sanctions Uganda for ‘vile’ anti-gay laws
Anti-gay supporters in Uganda rejoiced when President Yoweri Museveni signed the anti-homosexuality law in February. The United States announced on June 19, 2014, that it was taking a series of punitive actions against Uganda in response to the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Entry to the US will be denied to “certain Ugandan officials involved in serious human rights abuses, including against LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender] individuals.”
- The US will bar admission for Ugandans "who are found responsible for significant public corruption.”
The United States announced on Thursday that it was taking a series of punitive actions against Uganda in response to the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
A spokeswoman for the National Security Council said entry to the US will be denied to “certain Ugandan officials involved in serious human rights abuses, including against LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender] individuals.”
The US will bar admission for Ugandans "who are found responsible for significant public corruption.”
The names of targeted individuals were not revealed, nor did spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden indicate in a written statement what the US would deem to be “serious human rights abuses” or “significant public corruption.”
“We are also discontinuing or redirecting funds for certain additional programmes involving the Ugandan Police Force, Ministry of Health and National Public Health Institute, and cancelling plans to hold a US military-sponsored aviation exercise in Uganda,” the statement added.
UNDIMINSHED AID
It did not specify the amount of funding or the types of programmes affected.
The US will continue its efforts to help Uganda stamp out “the Lord’s Resistance Army,” the statement said. The US also pledged undiminished aid for development and humanitarian programmes in Uganda.
The Obama administration is acting to punish one of it closest allies in Africa. Uganda’s commitment to the Amisom force in Somalia is especially valued in Washington.
Gay rights groups in the US had been pressing for tougher measures after the US made only verbal criticisms of the Anti-Homosexuality Act signed into law in February by President Yoweri Museveni.
The sanctions announced on Thursday appear tailored to satisfy an important political constituency in the US while striving to maintain a strategic partnership with Uganda.
The moves also serve to underscore the Obama administration’s insistence that gay rights are inseparable from human rights.
LITTLE IMPACT
Uganda’s government Friday said US sanctions slapped on the country for tough anti-gay laws would have little impact and rejected rights groups’ reports that the legislation had led to a rise in assaults.
“Ugandans know they are moving away from donor dependency,” government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told AFP Friday.
“We cannot compel the Americans to give us their money. Ugandans must be ready and we are rightly doing so, paying our bills. We need to be frugal.”
Signed by President Museveni in February, the law calls for “repeat homosexuals” to be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and obliges Ugandans to denounce gays to the authorities.
The legislation “runs counter to universal human rights and complicates our bilateral relationship,” the White House said, renewing calls for the law to be repealed.
