Ugandan government shrugs off aid cuts over anti-gay law

Uganda has shrugged off foreign aid cuts and international criticism of its tough new anti-gay law, saying it can do without Western aid.

"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 $90 million loan planned to help Uganda build 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 programs for Uganda, and blunt criticism from the United States and Sweden after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed off on one of the world's toughest anti-gay laws on Monday.

Museveni signed a bill into law that holds that "repeat homosexuals" should be jailed for life. It also outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to report on homosexuals.

The law was signed despite fierce criticism from the West and key donors, including US President Barack Obama, who had warned that ties between Kampala and Washington would be hurt.

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 in Washington on Thursday with top US State Department officials to ask for help in protecting gays.

A State Department official said Mugisha met with 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 Museveni - already under fire from key Western donors over alleged rampant graft and for stifling opposition groups and the media - to block the legislation.

But in a blunt speech after signing the law, Museveni warned the West 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 Sweden's Finance Minister Anders Borg, who visited the country on Tuesday, said the law "presents an economic risk for Uganda".

The Netherlands froze a $9.6 million subsidy to Uganda's legal system, while Denmark and Norway said they would redirect around 6 million euros ($8.3 million) each toward private sector initiatives, aid agencies and rights organizations.

The Ugandan shilling fell against the dollar this week, with central bank spokeswoman Christine Alupo saying dollars had been sold to "maintain stability".

Opondo said Uganda's government was not worried.

"Western 'aid' to Africa is lucrative and (a) profitable trade, they cannot cut off completely," Opondo said.

"Slave trade, slavery, colonialism, imperialism and exploitation ... Africa must stand up to Western domination."

The bill's passing was reportedly a popular move in Uganda, where 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 in 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 people's right to privacy but also "demonstrates the very real danger that the new anti-homosexuality law will encourage acts of violence and harassment".

"Media organizations should refrain from fueling 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.

(China Daily 03/01/2014 page7)