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☆ Ugandan Lawmakers Amend Anti-LGBT Bill Criticized by U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Ugandan Parliament passed an earlier version of an anti-LGBT bill in March. Photo: Ronald Kabuubi/Associated PressKAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda’s Parliament on Tuesday removed a provision from a sweeping anti-LGBT bill that would have criminalized identifying as gay, lesbian, transgender or nonbinary, but retained most other elements of the legislation. The bill, which has been widely criticized by the U.S., other Western donors and the United Nations, was initially passed in March and includes harsh new punishments for LGBT people, including allowing the death penalty for repeated same-sex intercourse by anyone who is HIV-positive.

CNN —Uganda’s parliament has passed an amended version of the controversial Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2023 on Tuesday. Under the new proposed bill, homosexual conduct will still be illegal, but identifying as homosexual without conducting in homosexual acts will not be outlawed. The new bill has made amendments to distinguish between those who identify or appear to be LGBTQ+ and those who actually engage in homosexual acts. Sign it or veto itThe bill will now be returned to President Museveni who will decide whether to sign it into law or veto it. Scientists and academics had urged Museveni to veto the bill, which has been widely condemned by Western nations and human rights organizations.

☆ Podcast: Gay in Uganda - A life or death situation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni must this week either sign, veto or send back to parliament one of the world’s toughest anti-gay bills. Whatever he decides, life for the country’s LGBTQ community is a dangerous endeavour. A corruption scandal at FC Barcelona and the war of words over Spain’s fascist past. Abortion activists and doctors look for alternatives as the Supreme Court considers the future of abortion pill Mifepristone. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ‘We Will Hunt You’: Ugandans Flee Ahead of Harsh Anti-Gay Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Abdi Latif Dahir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a spartan safehouse with flimsy curtains and no furniture northwest of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, people from neighboring Uganda clung to the few valuables they could snatch while fleeing harsh new legislation targeting them back home. A gay man clutched the white rosary that he took to church every Sunday. A transgender woman brought her favorite shimmering blue dress. A lesbian couple clenched the one smartphone that held photos from happier days, going on dates and dancing in clubs. They began leaving after Uganda’s Parliament passed a sweeping anti-gay bill in late March that threatens punishment as severe as death for some perceived offenses, and calls for life in prison for anyone engaging in same-sex relations.

☆ Uganda’s anti-gay bill is the latest and worst to target LGBTQ Africans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Aditi Bhandari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +14 min

Same-sex activity in Africa is punishable by … Map of the 32 African countries where same-sex activity is illegal. Same-sex activity in Africa … Map of the 22 African countries where same-sex activity is legal. In 1993, Guinea-Bissau became the first African country to legalise LGBTQ activity when it adopted a new Penal Code that didn’t include any laws criminalising it. Country Constitutional protection Broad protections Employment Hate crime Incitement Marriage or civil union Adoption Angola No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Botswana No No Yes No No No No Cape Verde No No Yes Yes No No No Gabon No No No No No No No Guinea-Bissau No No No No No No No Lesotho No No No No No No No Mozambique No No Yes No No No No Sao Tome and Principe No No Yes Yes No No No Seychelles No No Yes No No No No South Africa Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes YesNote: Broad protections include laws protecting against discrimination in at least 3 of 4 categories: the provision of goods and services, housing, healthcare and education. Namibia and Mauritius criminalise same-sex activity, but around 35% of respondents said they would dislike having a gay neighbour.

☆ Fact Check-Fabricated Joe Biden tweet about anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by Uganda’s parliament shared online
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The image also purports to show replies from Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is no record of the tweets, and the handles differ from the official accounts of these world leaders. Reuters reported that Uganda’s parliament passed a law making it a crime to identify as part of the LGBTQ community on March 21, 2023. There is a spacing issue with Biden’s handle, which appears to have a space between “Joe” and “Biden” in the screenshot circulating online. An alleged tweet by Joe Biden on Uganda’s law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ has been fabricated.

☆ Uganda Declares End of Deadly Ebola Outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda’s Ebola outbreak is over, the country’s health ministry said Wednesday, capping a nearly four-month struggle to contain a rare strain of the highly contagious virus for which there are no proven vaccines or antiviral treatments. Uganda’s Health Ministry said 42 days had passed since the last known patient diagnosed with the Sudan strain of Ebola was discharged from a hospital, taking the country beyond twice the virus’s maximum incubation period. Fifty-five people are confirmed to have died from the virus since September in the second-deadliest known Ebola outbreak in Uganda’s history, while at least 142 were infected. The ministry said another 22 people are believed to have died from the virus as far back as early August, but were never tested.

☆ Uganda’s latest Ebola outbreak is over, WHO and officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: 1 min

Uganda’s latest outbreak of the Ebola virus is over. Uganda’s government and the World Health Organization made the announcement Wednesday. The Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, unlike the Zaire strain that has caused outbreaks in neighboring Congo in recent years, has no proven vaccine. This outbreak was the first in a decade of the less common Sudan strain. Ebola, which can sometimes manifest as a hemorrhagic fever, spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.

☆ Uganda to roll out trial vaccines as it scrambles to control Ebola outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Larry Madowo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Mubende, Uganda CNN —Joseph Singiringabo has lost almost everything and everyone he held dear to Ebola. An Ebola treatment unit in Mubende, Uganda. Larry Madowo/CNNHe has been involved in every Ebola outbreak in Uganda as well as in Sierra Leone in 2017. However, the country is about to roll out three trial vaccines that have been certified as safe by the World Health Organization (WHO) working group. He has now barred traditional healers and witchdoctors from taking clients during the Ebola outbreak.

☆ Uganda’s President Museveni slams ‘Western double standards’ over Germany coal mine plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has slammed Western countries over what he calls a “reprehensible double standard” in their response to the energy crisis brought about by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In September, Russia which had come under a raft of Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, halted gas supplies to Europe, leaving the region that was dependent on Russian oil and gas imports scampering for alternatives. But Europe’s largest economy has now been forced to prioritize energy security over clean energy as gas supplies from Russia froze. Just like Germany, many other European countries are reviving coal projects as alternatives to Russian energy. Making ‘a mockery’ of climate targetsMuseveni, 78, says Europe’s switch to coal-based power generation “makes a mockery” of the West’s climate targets.

☆ Uganda's Ebola outbreak sees a worrisome increase in infections after spike in cases over the weekend
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A top World Health Organization official in Africa said last week that Uganda’s Ebola outbreak was “rapidly evolving,” describing a challenging situation for health workers. Ugandan health authorities have confirmed 75 cases of Ebola since Sept. 20, including 28 deaths. Fears that Ebola could spread far from the outbreak’s epicenter compelled authorities to impose an ongoing lockdown, including nighttime curfews, on two of the five districts reporting Ebola cases. Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed more than 200 people. The 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people, the disease’s largest death toll.

☆ Uganda applies well-honed lessons to new Ebola outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Mithil Aggarwal | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Now, the East African country — lauded for its coronavirus response, which was built around engaging the community and training health officials — is drawing lessons from the first Ebola outbreak in 2004. “They alerted the WHO early and put in the basic pillars of a response early,” Dr. Benjamin Black, an obstetrician, said recalling the West African Ebola response from 2014 to 2016. But Ghebreyesus said Wednesday a clinical trial of vaccines to combat the Sudan species of the Ebola virus could start within weeks. “There’s burnout amongst health workers, health officials and the public across the board in Uganda,” Agoada said. The threadlike Ebola virus spreads when it comes in contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.

☆ ‘Africa on its own’: Little help in epidemics, says official
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Africa must plan to respond effectively to disease outbreaks without international help, a top public health official said Wednesday, warning that the continent of 1.3 billion people is “on its own” during pandemics. “This is not the first outbreak of the Sudan strain of Ebola virus here in Africa and particularly here in Uganda,” he said. He said no help has come to Africa, where more monkeypox deaths have been reported this year than anywhere in the world. “Recently, during the pandemic, when we saw the number of monkeypox cases growing here in Africa, we issued a global alert but no help came to Africa,” he said. “In fact, today, as we see the tail end of the pandemic, there’s still no help coming to Africa for monkeypox.

☆ Deadly Ebola Outbreak Spreads to Uganda’s Capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KAMPALA Uganda—A deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus has spread from rural Uganda into the capital, Kampala, the country’s Health Ministry said Wednesday, raising further fears of a wider spread of the deadly Sudan strain for which there are no proven vaccines or antiviral treatments. Nineteen people are confirmed dead from the hemorrhagic fever since Ugandan health authorities announced that a 24-year-old man was killed by the relatively rare Sudan strain of Ebola last month. Nineteen others, including six members of the man’s family, are also believed to have died as far back as early August, but were never tested, the health ministry said.

☆ General Muhoonzi: Uganda's Museveni apologizes to Kenya for son's invasion tweets
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Nimi Princewill Cnn Reuters | Nimi Princewill | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —President Yoweri Museveni has apologized to Kenyans over tweets posted by his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba that had repeatedly threatened to invade Uganda’s East African neighbor. In a series of tweets on Monday and Tuesday, Kainerugaba posted provocative messages, including proposing the unification of Kenya and Uganda. “It wouldn’t take us, my army and me, 2 weeks to capture Nairobi,” Kainerugaba wrote, referring to Kenya’s capital. Despite his apology, Museveni justified Kainerugaba’s promotion, saying his son had only erred in his comments and not in his service. Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni pictured in 2018.

☆ Outbreak of Rare Ebola Strain Declared in Uganda
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Nicholas Bariyo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at Uganda’s health ministry, said a 24-year-old man was found to have been infected with the Sudan strain of Ebola. KAMPALA, Uganda—Uganda declared an outbreak of a relatively rare strain of the Ebola virus on Tuesday, raising concerns of a wider spread because existing vaccines haven’t yet been tested against this version of the virus. A 24-year-old man who died Monday in central Uganda was found to have been infected with the Sudan strain of Ebola, said Diana Atwine, permanent secretary at Uganda’s health ministry.

CNN —Uganda declared an outbreak of Ebola after a case of the relatively rare Sudan strain was confirmed in the country, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. “This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda is recording the Ebola Sudan strain,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa said. “We are working closely with the national health authorities to investigate the source of this outbreak.”Uganda last reported an outbreak of Ebola Sudan in 2012, the WHO said. Uganda’s last outbreak was in 2019 when it confirmed the Zaire Ebola strain, which led to the death a of 9-year-old Congolese girl near the border with the DRC. According to the WHO, vaccination has been approved against the Zaire strain but inoculation against the Sudan strain hasn’t been tested.

☆ Uganda floods: 16 dead as heavy rains trigger landslides
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-08 | by ( Bethlehem Feleke Cnn Reuters | Bethlehem Feleke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —At least 16 people died in western Uganda after heavy rains in the Kasese district on Tuesday night caused a landslide early Wednesday, according to tweets from the Uganda Red Cross. Six people were also injured and are receiving treatment at a local hospital, the red cross spokesperson Irene Nakasiita tweeted. After a prolonged drought, heavy rains have fallen on much of Uganda since late July, causing deaths and flooding, and the destruction of crops, homes, and infrastructure. In July, flooding caused by heavy rains killed at least 24 people in Mbale district in eastern Uganda. Many parts of Uganda are prone to flooding after heavy rains, but the whole country is vulnerable to natural disasters.

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