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☆ Ugandan Court Upholds Draconian Anti-Gay Law
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Abdi Latif Dahir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Uganda’s Constitutional Court on Tuesday largely upheld a sweeping anti-gay law that President Yoweri Museveni signed last year, undermining the efforts of activists and rights groups to abolish legislation that drew worldwide condemnation and strained the East African nation’s relationship with the West. The legislation, which was signed into law by Mr. Museveni in May, calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex. But the law was popular in Uganda, a landlocked nation of over 48 million people, where religious and political leaders frequently inveigh against homosexuality. The fallout for Uganda will be watched closely in other African countries where anti-gay sentiment is on the rise and anti-gay legislation is under consideration, including Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania and South Sudan. In February, Ghana’s Parliament passed an anti-gay law, but the country’s president said that he would not sign it until the Supreme Court ruled on its constitutionality.

Persons: Yoweri Museveni, Museveni Organizations: East, West, World Bank Locations: Uganda’s, Uganda, United States, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, South Sudan, Ghana’s

☆ Eddy Kenzo, Uganda’s first Grammy nominee, recounts his journey from sleeping on the streets to global stardom
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Vanessa Offiong | Daniel Renjifo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

I’ve always known that I’ll make it in music because I could feel the creativity in me. But I knew that one day if I ever went into a studio, I would produce good music. Eddy Kenzo (center) pictured here in Uganda with members of the Ghetto Kids dance group, during a music video rehearsal in 2023. Eddy Kenzo, pictured here attending the 65th edition of the Grammy Awards show on February 5, 2023, became Uganda's first-ever Grammy nominee last year. A Grammy nominee is a Grammy nominee.

Persons: Miriam Makeba, Eddy Kenzo, Uganda’s, Matt B, ”, Edrisah Kenzo Musuuza, Kenzo, CNN’s Larry Madowo, Larry Madowo, I’ve, Badru Katumba, ’ I’ve, It’s, Matt Winkelmeyer, Matt, Greg Organizations: CNN, Best, Big Talent Entertainment, Uganda National Musicians Federation, Getty, EK, The Recording Academy Locations: Uganda, Kampala, AFP, Chicago, Los Angeles

☆ Opinion | Abolish the U.N.’s Palestinian Refugee Agency
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

United Nations agencies and officials are no strangers to scandal and infamy. In the 1980s, Kurt Waldheim, a former U.N. secretary general, was unmasked as a former Nazi. He was the same secretary general who denounced Israel’s 1976 rescue of Jewish hostages in Entebbe as “a serious violation” of Uganda’s national sovereignty. Now comes the latest scandal of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, better known as UNRWA. Last Friday, Israeli officials presented the U.S. government with an intelligence dossier detailing the involvement of 12 UNRWA employees, seven of them schoolteachers, in the massacre of Oct. 7.

Persons: Saddam Hussein, Kurt Waldheim, Ronen Bergman, Patrick Kingsley Organizations: Nations, Democratic, Iraq, Nazi, United Nations Relief, Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, “ Intelligence, Street Locations: Haiti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Entebbe, Gaza

was exemplary, slashing the country’s death rate by nearly 90 percent from 1990 to 2019. Now a sweeping law enacted last year, the Anti-Homosexuality Act, threatens to renew the epidemic as L.G.B.T.Q. It also requires all citizens to report anyone suspected of such activity, a mandate that makes no exceptions for health care providers tending to patients. Under the law, merely having same-sex relationships while living with H.I.V. Scores of Ugandans have been evicted from homes and fired from jobs, according to interviews with lawyers and activists.

Organizations: H.I.V

☆ Climate Change Made Their Homes Unsafe. Who Pays for Their Move?
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | Photographs Badru Katumba For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

BUDUDA, Uganda—On a steep slope dense with coffee and banana plants, farmer Irene Muyama starts each day by carefully checking a 5-inch-wide crack that recently appeared on a path her children take on their way to school. She has packed the family’s meager belongings into a pile of handwoven baskets, preparing to move to a new, safer home. The fertile highlands of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano straddling Uganda’s border with Kenya, have become too dangerous for people to live and farm on, the Ugandan government says. The mountain has long produced some of the world’s finest Arabica beans for U.S. brands like Starbucks and Blue Bottle Coffee. But a series of deadly landslides that climate scientists say were caused by extreme changes in local rainfall patterns have thrust this mountain—and the people who live here—to the center of one of the most divisive battles in international climate negotiations.

Persons: Irene Muyama, Mount Elgon Locations: BUDUDA, Uganda, Mount, Kenya

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The extension of the U.S. program allowing sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to U.S. markets is expected to be high on the agenda of the U.S. Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade forum that will begin in South Africa on Thursday. AGOA is U.S. legislation that allows sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the U.S. market provided they meet certain conditions, including adherence to the rule of law and the protection of human rights. In May, Biden threatened to remove Uganda from AGOA and impose sanctions following the passing of a controversial anti-gay law. They also called on the forum to be held in a different country to send a message to South Africa about the impact of its close ties to Moscow. An inquiry appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa has since cleared South Africa of supplying Russia with arms.

Persons: Katherine Tai, Joy Basu, Joe Biden, ”, John Stremlau, AGOA, Ebrahim Patel, Biden, Ofwono Opondo, Yoweri Museveni, Cyril Ramaphosa, Ramaphosa, ___ Rodney Muhumuza Organizations: U.S, U.S ., African, Congress, Republicans, Central African, Republican, Democratic Locations: JOHANNESBURG, U.S, U.S . Africa, South Africa, Johannesburg, Niger, Uganda, Central African Republic, Gabon, Africa, South, AGOA, U.S . South Africa, Cuba, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Kampala

☆ Uganda: Manhunt launched as newlyweds killed on honeymoon
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni says security forces are on the trail of an ISIS-linked rebel group blamed for the killing of two foreign newlyweds celebrating their honeymoon at a popular tourist destination in the country. The couple was killed Tuesday alongside their local safari guide at the Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda, police said, adding that the victims’ vehicle was also set ablaze by their killers. It added that the national park was “safe and secure” for visitors despite the tragedy. Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni Abubaker Lubowa/ReutersFollowing the killing, Britain’s foreign office warned UK nationals to avoid nonessential travel to Queen Elizabeth National Park. According to Museveni, Uganda’s security forces are on the verge of “wiping out” the ADF despite attempts by the group to “commit some random terrorist acts.”

Persons: CNN —, Yoweri Museveni, Museveni, ” Museveni, Yoweri Museveni Abubaker Lubowa, Queen Elizabeth, ” Kasese, ” Organizations: CNN, Queen Elizabeth National, Uganda’s Wildlife Authority, South, ADF, Commission, Reuters, Uganda “, Sunday, United Nations Locations: Uganda, Ugandan, Kasese, Uganda’s Butambala, United States

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s President William Ruto sought $1 billion more in loans from China Monday, despite rising public debt that has now reached $70 billion in the Eastern African country, according to National Treasury figures for 2022/2023. President Ruto was was one of a number of global leaders in Beijing to attend the tenth anniversary meeting of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the ambitious plan that aims to connect Africa, Asia and Europe through massive infrastructure and energy projects. Kenya has been struggling with ballooning public debt, with $6 billion owed to Chinese creditors, according to national data. However, it’s not clear if President Ruto and his delegation will be granted a restructuring or extension of the interest payments. Last week, legislators tabled a motion asking the government to reveal details of all the loans it had accumulated since President Ruto came into power in September 2022.

Persons: — Kenya’s, William Ruto, Ruto, Hussein Mohammed, “, ”, SGR, Rigathi Gachagua, Kenya SGR, Aly Khan Satchu, it’s, ” Satchu Organizations: National Treasury, Initiative, Kampala, Kenyan Locations: NAIROBI, Kenya, China, Beijing, Africa, Asia, Europe, Mombasa, Nairobi, Uganda, Central Africa, Turkish, Congo, Satchu

They are mostly looking for secondhand clothing, sifting through underwear for pairs that seem new or trying on shoes despite getting pushed around in the crush. Despite the popularity, secondhand clothes are facing increasing pushback. And we get all documents for that.”The Green Shops are environmentally friendly because they recycle used clothes in bulk, he said. Not surprisingly, many people would rather buy used clothing, she said. Abdulrashid Ssuuna, who tries to persuade customers in the market to stop by his brother’s used clothing business, said a ban would deny him a livelihood.

Persons: —, “, Yoweri Museveni, ” Museveni, Uganda —, Kalungi, ”, ” Kalungi, Allan Zavuga, ” Zavuga, Abdulrashid Ssuuna, Ssuuna, Tadeo Walusimbi, ” Walusimbi Organizations: Downtown, U.S . Agency for International Development, East African Community Locations: KAMPALA, Uganda, East Africa, U.S, Africa, Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Washington, In Uganda, China, Germany, Kampala, Ugandan

CNN —Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine was arrested at Entebbe International Airport near the capital Kampala on Thursday as he returned to the country, according to his party the National Unity Platform. The National Unity Platform (NUP) said in a social media post that Wine was “violently arrested upon his return to Uganda. Opposition frontrunnerWine, a popstar-turned-politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was the main opposition frontrunner in the presidential elections in January 2021 and lost to President Yoweri Museveni. Wine rejected the election results, saying he had evidence of fraud and intimidation. “The Security Agencies will take all necessary measures to ensure that individuals involved in illegal activities are arrested and brought before the courts of law.”

Persons: Bobi Wine, “, ”, Wine, Robert Kyagulanyi, Yoweri Museveni, Museveni, ’ Organizations: CNN, Wine, Uganda Police Force, Entebbe International, ” Police Locations: Entebbe, Kampala, Uganda, Magere

☆ What Uganda’s war on second-hand clothes means for fashion
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Sarah Kent | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Camille Delbos/Art In All of Us/Corbis/Getty ImagesSo Kolade turned to something that was available in abundance: second-hand clothes. “I have declared war on second-hand clothes to promote African wear,” the President said during the opening of 16 factories at an industrial park late last month, according to Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor. Ugandan fashion house Buzigahill give new life to second-hand clothes through patchworking and splicing pieces together. According to the Uganda Dealers in Used Clothing and Shoes Association, there are a huge number of jobs directly and indirectly involved in the second-hand clothing supply chain. “It is clear that the second-hand clothing trade is broken because the firsthand clothing trade is broken,” said Ricketts.

Persons: Bobby Kolade, Camille Delbos, Kolade, patchworked sweats, Yoweri Museveni, Martin Kharumwa, ”, Corti Paul Lakuma, Bales, Andrew Caballero, Reynolds, Uganda’s, Buzigahill, Liz Ricketts, Ricketts Organizations: CNN, The, Fashion, Ugandan, Daily Monitor, East African Community, Policy Research, Greenpeace, Bloomberg, Getty, European Union, European Environment Agency, Uganda Dealers, Association, European Locations: Berlin, Kampala, Entebbe, Uganda, Turkey, China, East, Europe, East Africa, Philippines, Indonesia, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ugandan, Accra, Ghana, Africa, Kantamanto, California

At the Nairobi orphanage, program manager Paul Mulongo has a message for Washington. Without that, the virus could come back, ”and about 20 million lives might be lost in the coming years,” he said. But Reach Out helps anyone who walks in needing HIV drugs, Kaleebi said. “Sometimes it’s so crazy when you hear people saying that these HIV drugs should be bought by the local government,” he said. Some are among the 1.4 million children and adults living with HIV in Kenya, according to UNAIDS.

Persons: George W, Bush, Paul Mulongo, “, Mulongo, ”, Tom Hart, PEPFAR, Biden, Chris Smith, Smith, ” Smith, John Nkengasong, we’ve, Josephine Kaleebi, ” Kaleebi, Kaleebi, Mark Dybul, Bernard Mwololo, David Shitika, “ Nobody, ” Shitika, ” ___ Amiri, Knickmeyer, Rodney Muhumuza Organizations: Republican U.S, President’s, AIDS Relief, Republicans, Democrats, ONE, Heritage Foundation, State Department, ” Conservatives, PEPFAR, Republican, Foreign, Associated Press, AP, Health Initiative, Uganda’s Catholic, AIDS, UNAIDS Locations: NAIROBI, Kenya, United States, Africa, Ukraine, Brazil, Indonesia, Nairobi, Washington, ”, Uganda, Kampala, Russia, China

☆ Uganda Arrests Man on Antigay Charge Punishable by Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Emma Bubola | More About Emma Bubola | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ugandan prosecutors have lodged charges of “aggravated homosexuality” against a 20-year-old man — a crime punishable by death — in one of the country’s first applications of provision included in one of the world’s harshest antigay laws. Same-sex acts had long been considered illegal under Uganda’s penal code, but a law enacted this year introduced far harsher penalties and vastly extended the range of perceived offenses. Its passage drew condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations, and the Biden administration called it “one of the most extreme” antigay measures in the world. Prosecutors used the death penalty provision this month to charge a 20-year-old man with having sexual intercourse with a 41-year-old man with a disability in the city of Soroti, in Eastern Uganda, according to Jacquelyn Okui, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution. (A separate case against a different man, lodged last month, involved an underage person, Ms. Okui said.)

Persons: —, Biden, Jacquelyn, Okui Organizations: United Nations, Prosecutors, Public Prosecution Locations: Soroti, Eastern Uganda

☆ A Hotbed of Distance Running Talent Emerges in Uganda
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Jonathan W. Rosen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It is here that Ugandan running is now thriving, though the region’s talent took time to develop. While Kenya enjoyed relative stability in the decades after it gained independence in 1963, Uganda was at war for much of the 1970s and 1980s. Lawlessness pervaded the Mount Elgon region until the turn of the century: Bandits from neighboring tribes would sweep in at night and conduct raids on cattle, often killing locals in the process. The resettlement process, Kiptala said, was traumatic, but it also helped unlock running talent. Through school, children could access competitions, and by the early 2000s, athletes from the Elgon region were beginning to appear in World Championship and Olympic finals.

Persons: Moses Kiptala, Kiptala, Kiplimo’s, Simba, Uganda’s, Dorcus Inzikuru, Stephen Kiprotich Locations: Kenya, Uganda, Elgon, Budapest, Helsinki, Elgon’s, Moscow

These themes have become a common thread in his sermons and interviews, especially since Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act was signed into law last month. Nowhere is safe for any queer person living in Uganda,” Joan Amek, co-founder of Rella Women’s Foundation, told CNN. At least 300 human rights violations against suspected homosexuals have been reported in Uganda arising from the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, the SRT told CNN. ‘My life is hell’Nash Wash Raphael, a 30-year-old transgender man, says he was attacked on the night Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The Church of Uganda openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and supported the Anti-Homosexuality Act, accusing the global head of the Anglican Church of misinterpreting the Bible.

Persons: Canon John Awodi, ”, Yoweri Museveni, ” Joan Amek, didn’t, ’, “, ” Amek, Joan Amekis, Asuman Basalirwa, ‘, Nash, Raphael, Museveni, Nash Wash Raphael, Fabien Muhire, ” Raphael, couldn’t, We’ve, they’ll, Anglican Church Amek, Amek, of Canterbury, Justin Welby, Welby, Bill Organizations: Uganda CNN, Saints ’ Cathedral, CNN, Rella, Foundation, Bethlehem Feleke, SRT, Anglican Church, Anglican, of Locations: Kampala, Uganda, Rev, Bethlehem, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Africa, Ugandan

☆ TotalEnergies faces second lawsuit over Uganda oil projects
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( America Hernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies TotalEnergies SE FollowPARIS, June 27 (Reuters) - Five activist groups have sued French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) for a second time over its projects in Uganda and Tanzania in a Paris civil court, they said on Tuesday, after an earlier fast-track attempt was dismissed in February. Their lawsuit makes use of a 2017 French "duty of vigilance" law requiring large companies to identify risks in their global operations and supply chains, and detail strategies to prevent them. The first suit sought - and failed - to halt the projects by judicial order under a special fast-track process, with the judge finding that TotalEnergies' so-called vigilance plan was legally adequate. This latest legal attempt instead seeks reparations for those who claim they have already been harmed as a result of the project construction. Allegations run from lack of timely payment for land on which the pipeline will be built, to damaged houses from flooding during construction of oil processing facilities.

Persons: TotalEnergies, America Hernandez, Jan Harvey Organizations: Friends, Oil Pipeline, Thomson Locations: PARIS, Uganda, Tanzania, Paris, France, French, EACOP, Uganda’s Lake Albert, Tanga

☆ Uganda: Twenty people arrested on suspicion of collaborating in Uganda school massacre
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Twenty people accused of helping an ISIS-linked rebel group suspected of killing dozens, mostly students at a school in western Uganda, have been arrested, Ugandan police told CNN. A spokesperson for the Uganda Police Force, Fred Enanga, told CNN on Monday that 20 suspected ADF collaborators had been arrested, but no actual members of the militia group. The arrests follow authorities’ earlier disclosure that the ADF may have spent days planning the attack with the help of local residents in town. The Lhubirira school is located in the town of Kasese, which sits along the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, with students aged between 13 and 18. The ISIS-linked ADF was designated as a terrorist organization by the United States in 2021 and was sanctioned by the United Nations in 2014.

Persons: Fred Enanga, Yoweri Museveni, ” Museveni Organizations: CNN, Allied Democratic Forces, Lhubirira Secondary, Uganda Police Force, ADF, Democratic, UBC Television, United Nations Locations: Uganda, Mpondwe, Kasese, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda’s, Congo, Congo Government, North Kivu, United States

☆ Opinion: Trump, the hoarder in chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Photos included in the 38-count indictment of former President Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta show bankers boxes stacked in a bathroom and other parts of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. Trump has always hung onto news clippings, documents and other mementos,” The New York Times reported. “Trump is chaotic and unpredictable in a way that could lead other Republicans to believe that there is a chance he won’t make it to the convention. As Zelizer noted, “Trump has denied wrongdoing, claiming he is being unfairly targeted.”But “given this unusual context, Republicans have legitimate reasons to think that there could be an upset.

Persons: Harry Fellowes, Fellowes, Harry Fellowes couldn’t, Donald Trump, Walt Nauta, Trump, Kim Jong, Mr, Jack Smith’s, Peter Bergen, ” Bergen, Nick Anderson, David Zurawik, “, ” Zurawik, ” Clay Jones, ” Trump, Jill Filipovic, ” Dana Summers, John Avlon, MAGA hasn’t, Gautham Rao, Donald Trump’s, Dean Obeidallah, Hillary Clinton, Phil Hands, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Julian Zelizer, “ Trump, ”, Facebook Trump, Zelizer, Republican Alice Stewart, Joe Biden, Mike, Pence, Agency Stewart, I’m, that’s, Chris Christie, Christie, Cupp, ’, Frida Ghitis, Mucutuy, –, Cristin, Tien Ranoque, ” Ghitis, David Andelman, Ruth Ben Ghiat, Brett Bruen, Sébastien Roblin, Michael Bociurkiw, Father’s, Edward S, Feldman, Harrison Ford, David G, Allan, Tom Hanks, ” Allan, I’ve, Ford, Indiana Jones, Steve Majors, Young, Joyce M, Davis, Pete Buttigieg, ” Davis, Buttigieg, Don’t, Tom Stiglich, Syndicate David Culver, Opal Lee, Dion Sims, Black, Juneteenth Scott Hodge, Roxanne Jones, LeBron James, NBA Joshua Douglas, Samuel Huneke, Jere Hester, they’re, Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon’s, Yoko Ono, Lennon’s, McCartney Organizations: CNN, White, The New York Times, West Wing, Tribune, Agency, US, Trump, Miami Mayor, Republican, Twitter, Facebook, intel, New, New Jersey Gov, Paramount Pictures, “, Syndicate, NBA, Central Press, Hulton, Beatles, BBC Locations: Trump’s, Mar, Miami, New Jersey, China, Philadelphia, Atlanta , Georgia, Harrisburg , Pennsylvania, Jamaica

☆ ‘A Terrible Tragedy’: Uganda Reels From Deadly Terrorist Attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Abdi Latif Dahir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The militants reached the private boarding school compound just before midnight, as students were going to bed, on a partly cloudy night in a small town in the lush western fields of Uganda. First, they shot the school’s guard in the head before they went to the students’ dormitories. Petrified, the girls unlocked their dormitory’s doors and tried to flee, only for the assailants to catch up with them and hack them to death with machetes. The assailants, members of an Islamist militant group, also burned the school’s library, plundered a food store and kidnapped six students, whom they used to carry the looted goods, military officials said. As they fled the town into the dense forests of Congo, they killed three other people, including a woman in her 60s — bringing the death total to 41.

Persons: Janet Museveni Organizations: Democratic Locations: Uganda, Mpondwe, Uganda’s, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo

Kampala, Uganda CNN —At least 26 students have been killed and six abducted following an attack at a western Uganda school by armed rebels from the Allied Democratic Force, a Ugandan major told CNN on Saturday. The military suspects more dead bodies may be found, but said there was no one still alive trapped in the school. Armed rebels of the ADF, which has ties to ISIS, attacked the school in Mpondwe on Friday night, police have said. “A dormitory was burnt and a food store looted,” Uganda Police Force Spokesperson Fred Enanga said on Twitter, adding that the bodies had been transferred to Bwera Hospital. The spokesperson said that Ugandan Police and the Uganda People’s Defense Force were in “hot pursuit” of the suspects.

Persons: Major Bilal Katamba, Fred Enanga Organizations: Uganda CNN, Allied Democratic Force, CNN, Democratic, Authorities, ADF, ISIS, Uganda Police Force, Twitter, Bwera Hospital, Ugandan Police, Uganda People’s Defense Force Locations: Kampala, Uganda, Ugandan, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Mpondwe, Congo

☆ Biden warns Uganda of possible sanctions due to anti-gay law
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden condemned Uganda's new anti-gay law on Monday, and said the United States may impose sanctions and will evaluate the implications of the law "on all aspects of U.S. engagement with Uganda." Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Monday signed one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," drawing Western condemnations and risking sanctions from aid donors. "This shameful act is the latest development in an alarming trend of human rights abuses and corruption in Uganda," Biden said in a statement. "And we are considering additional steps, including the application of sanctions and restriction of entry into the United States against anyone involved in serious human rights abuses or corruption," said Biden. Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as in more than 30 African countries, but the new law goes further.

☆ Uganda enacts harsh anti-LGBTQ law including death penalty
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Same-sex relations were already illegal in Uganda, as in more than 30 African countries, but the new law goes much further. It imposes capital punishment for some behaviour including transmitting a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex, and stipulates a 20-year sentence for "promoting" homosexuality. Uganda receives billions of dollars in foreign aid each year and could now face another round of sanctions. The bill's sponsor Asuman Basalirwa told reporters that parliament speaker Anita Among's U.S. visa was cancelled after the law was signed. "Our data shows that this law runs counter to the interests of economic progress and prosperity of all people in Uganda," he said.

CNN —Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has signed some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world, the speaker of parliament said, defying international pressure. The bill includes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality’ which includes sex with a minor, having sex while HIV positive and incest. The bill criminalizes sex education for the gay community and makes it illegal not to expose what it calls perpetrators of aggravated homosexuality to the police. Uganda’s longtime president has already faced extensive criticism from Western governments, including the US, over the law. “The civil society in Uganda together with the LGBTQI community are prepared to take this to the courts and challenge the law.

☆ Uganda’s President Signs Punitive Anti-Gay Bill Into Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Abdi Latif Dahir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The president of Uganda signed a punitive anti-gay bill on Monday that includes the death penalty, enshrining into law an intensifying crackdown against L.G.B.T.Q. people in the conservative East African nation and dismissing widespread calls not to impose one of the world’s most restrictive anti-gay measures. The law, which was introduced in Parliament in March, calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in gay sex. Anyone who tries to have same-sex relations could be liable for up to a decade in prison. The offense of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” carries a sentence of up to 14 years.

☆ Malawi: Toddler dead, 23 others missing as hippo capsizes boat in Nsanje district
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A toddler has died after a boat ferrying more than 30 villagers across the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district was attacked by a hippo, causing it to overturn, authorities said. A police spokesperson, Agnes Zalakoma, said the incident happened early Monday and 23 of the boat’s 37 passengers were missing and feared dead in the water, which is infested with crocodiles and hippos. “Well-wishers managed to rescue 13 people while 23 others went missing and the dead body of the toddler has been found,” Zalakoma said in a statement Monday, adding that the deceased child was only one-year-old. According to a lawmaker for the Nsanje district, Gladys Ganda, the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms at the Malawian border with Mozambique when their boat was hit by a hippo. In December, a two-year-old Ugandan boy was attacked by a hippo which swallowed half of his body before spitting him out, Uganda’s police said.

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