adminKAMPALA. — A Ugandan newspaper listed yesterday 200 people it accused of being gay, a day after the president called homosexuals “mercenaries” and signing one of the world’s toughest anti-gay laws. “Exposed!” the headline of the Red Pepper tabloid read, beneath photographs of Ugandans it said were gay, as well as reporting on lurid stories of alleged homosexual actions.
“Uganda’s 200 top homos named,” the daily newspaper added, which listed both those who have openly declared their sexuality as well as those who had not, including gay rights activists, priests and music stars.
“In salutation to the new law, today we unleash Uganda’s top homos and their sympathisers,” the newspaper added.
On Monday, President Yoweri Museveni signed a Bill into law which holds that repeat homosexuals should be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to denounce gays.
President Museveni said he could not understand how one could “fail to be attracted to all these beautiful women and be attracted to a man” instead and described in graphic details his particular revulsion to oral sex.
“There is something really wrong with you,” Museveni, a devout evangelical Christian who has been in power nearly three decades, said of gay men.
The signing of the law came despite fierce criticism from Western nations and key donors, including US President Barack Obama, who has warned that ties between Kampala and Washington would be damaged.
The bill will provide a stiff test for foreign donors, with Museveni warning Western nations not to meddle in the east African nation’s affairs, and that he was not afraid of aid being cut.
Some donors were quick to punish Kampala by freezing or redirecting aid money.
The Netherlands froze a seven-million-euro subsidy to Uganda’s legal system, while Denmark and Norway said they would redirect around six million euros each towards private sector initiatives, aid agencies and rights organisations.
Sweden’s Finance Minister Anders Borg, who is visiting Uganda for meetings on trade and economic issues, has met with gay rights activists.
He told reporters in Kampala the law was a “serious violation of human rights” and that it “presents an economic risk for Uganda”. — AFP.
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