Uganda has shrugged off foreign aid
cuts and international criticism of its tough new anti-gay law, saying it could
do without Western aid.
 |
|
Ugandan President
Yoweri Museveni signs an anti-homosexuality
bill into law in
Entebbe
|
"The West can keep their ‘aid’ to
Uganda over homos, we shall still develop without it," government
spokesman Ofwono Opondo said in a message on Twitter.
Hours later, the World Bank stalled a
$90m loan planned to help Uganda strengthen its healthcare system.
"We have postponed the project
for further review to ensure that the development objectives would not be
adversely affected by the enactment of this new law," a spokesman for the
global poverty lender said.
The World Bank move follows action by
Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway to freeze or change aid programmes for
Uganda and blunt criticism from the US and Sweden after President Yoweri
Museveni signed off on Monday on one of the world’s toughest anti-gay laws.
Mr Museveni signed a bill into law
that holds that "repeat homosexuals" should be jailed for life,
outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to report on
homosexuals.
The signing of the law came despite
the fierce criticism from Western nations and key donors, including US
President Barack Obama, who warned that ties between Kampala and Washington
would be damaged.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on
Wednesday compared the "flat-out morally wrong" and
"atrocious" law to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany or
apartheid in South Africa.
Leading Ugandan gay rights activist
Frank Mugisha met top State Department officials in Washington on Thursday to
call for help in protecting gay people.
A State Department official said Mr
Mugisha met the top US diplomat for Africa, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and acting
assistant secretary for human rights Uzra Zeya to discuss "mutual
concerns" about safety and "how the US might respond to the law’s
enactment".
Diplomats and rights groups had pushed
Mr Museveni — already under fire from key Western donors over alleged rampant
graft and for stifling opposition groups and media — to block the legislation.
But in a blunt speech after signing
the law, Mr Museveni warned Western nations not to meddle in the East African
country’s affairs and said he was not afraid of aid being cut.
Some donors were quick to punish
Kampala by freezing or redirecting aid money, while Swedish Finance Minister
Anders Borg, who visited the country on Tuesday, said the law "presents an
economic risk for Uganda".
The Netherlands froze a €7m subsidy to
Uganda’s legal system, while Denmark and Norway said they would redirect about
€6m each towards private sector initiatives, aid agencies and rights
organisations.
The Ugandan shilling dipped against
the dollar this week, with central bank spokeswoman Christine Alupo saying
dollars had been sold to "maintain stability".
Mr Opondo said Uganda’s government was
not worried.
"Western ‘aid’ to Africa is
lucrative and (a) profitable trade, they cannot cut off completely," he
said. "Slave trade, slavery, colonialism, imperialism and exploitation,
Africa must stand up to Western domination."
The passing of the bill was largely a
popular move in conservative Uganda, where Mr Museveni — in power for 28 years
— faces re-election in 2016.
Those opposed to it, however, say they
have been cowed by the threat of arrest, with fears stoked by the publication
of a list of 200 people accused of being gay by the Red Pepper tabloid this
week, alongside lurid stories of alleged homosexual actions.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights on Thursday condemned the publication of the names, warning
that it not only violated the right to privacy but also "demonstrates the
very real danger that the new anti-homosexuality law will encourage acts of
violence and harassment".
"Media organisations should
refrain from fuelling hatred and attacks on the basis of sexual
orientation," the UN added.
Opposition leader Kizza Besigye has
accused the government of using the issue of homosexuality to divert attention
from domestic problems such as corruption scandals or Kampala’s military
backing of South Sudan’s government against rebel forces.
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