Category Archives: Uganda

Uganda’s president refuses to sign new hardline anti-LGBTQ+ bill

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Yoweri Museveni sends bill imposing death penalty for homosexuality back to parliament for reconsideration

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has refused to sign into law a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill that imposes the death penalty for homosexuality, requesting that it be returned to parliament for reconsideration.

The decision was announced on Thursday after a meeting between the president and ruling party MPs who resolved to return the hardline bill to the national assembly “with proposals for its improvement”.

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Ugandan president calls on Africa to ‘save the world from homosexuality’

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Museveni says homosexuality is ‘danger to procreation of human race’ at Entebbe conference hosted by US anti-LGBTQ+ hate group


The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, has called on African leaders to reject “the promotion of homosexuality”, suggesting he will sign into law a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which was passed by parliament last month.

The bill, which imposes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”, has been widely criticised internationally, with the UN high commissioner for human rights urging the president not to sign it.

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Ugandan MPs pass bill imposing death penalty for homosexuality

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Human rights campaigners condemn bill introducing capital and life imprisonment sentences

MPs in Uganda have passed a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which would make homosexual acts punishable by death, attracting strong condemnation from rights campaigners.

All but two of the 389 legislators voted late on Tuesday for the hardline anti-homosexuality bill, which introduces capital and life imprisonment sentences for gay sex and “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”.

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LGBTQ+ groups face crackdowns in Uganda as environment turns hostile

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Activists fear a systematic ‘witch-hunt’ against sexual minorities by parliament, police and religious conservatives

A dramatic surge in attacks on LGBTQ+ people in Uganda has been recorded by rights groups this year, as the environment for sexual minorities turns increasingly hostile.

More than 110 people reported incidents including arrests, sexual violence, evictions and public undressing, to advocacy group Sexual Minorities Uganda (Smug) in February alone. Transgender people were disproportionately affected, said the group.

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Uganda MPs revive hardline anti-LGBTQ bill, calling homosexuality a ‘cancer’

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In a country where gay sex is already punishable by life in prison, campaigners have condemned proposed new law as ‘demonisation’

MPs in Uganda have reintroduced a controversial anti-LGBTQ bill, with one describing homosexuality as a “cancer”, attracting strong condemnation from rights campaigners.

Asuman Basalirwa, an opposition MP, made the remark as he tabled the draft law [pdf] which seeks to punish gay sex and “the promotion or recognition of such relations”.

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Uganda condemned for ‘shameful’ decision to close UN human rights office

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Campaigners accuse Museveni regime of evading international scrutiny after shock move to end agreement with OHCHR

Rights activists and campaigners have condemned the Ugandan government’s decision to shut down the country’s UN human rights office, describing it as “shameful”.

In a letter to the Office of the UN high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) in Uganda dated 3 February, the foreign affairs ministry said it will not renew the host country agreement it signed with the OHCHR, which established its initial mandate in the country in 2005. The current mandate, signed on 9 February 2020, expires in August.

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‘A great day for the country’: Uganda declares an end to Ebola outbreak

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Control measures including lockdowns have halted the spread of the virus after less than four months

The Ugandan government has declared an end to its Ebola outbreak, less than four months after cases were first reported.

Since 20 September, 56 people have died from the virus, which is spread through body fluids, and there have been 142 confirmed infections.

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Nine killed in New Year’s Eve crush in Ugandan capital

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Survivor says pushing began after fireworks outside Freedom City shopping mall in Kampala

At least nine people, some of them children, died in a crush as revellers rang in the new year at a shopping centre in Uganda’s capital, police said.

After fireworks outside the Freedom City mall in Kampala, “a stampede ensued, resulting in the instant deaths of five people and injuries to several others”, said Luke Owoyesigyire, a national police spokesperson.

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Renewed fighting in DRC raises fears of chaotic proxy conflict

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Conflict has displaced at least 400,000 people since March in a growing humanitarian crisis

In the camps on the flanks of the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they listen carefully. Not for warning of an eruption but to the dull thuds of distant mortar and artillery fire. Some days there are none, and hopes are raised. On other days, the sounds of war make clear to every one of the thousands of villagers huddled in their makeshift shelters that they will not be going anywhere very soon.

“We want to return home to cultivate our fields and keep our cows, sheep and goats because we are here and we are hungry. We are suffering a lot,” said Nsambimana Ashiwe, 64, at a displacement camp in Kanyaruchinya, a few miles south of the frontlines.

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Cool leaf! Study records chimp showing off object in human-like way

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Adult ape sharing information and just wanted mother to look at foliage with no motive otherwise, scientists say

Chimpanzees show each other objects just for the sake of it, researchers have found, revealing it isn’t only humans who like to draw attention to items that have captured their interest.

As anyone who has spent time with a child knows, even very young humans like to point out objects to others. However, it was previously thought this behaviour only occurs in our species.

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‘Monstrous’ east African oil project will emit vast amounts of carbon, data shows

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Experts say crude oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania will produce 25 times host nations’ combined annual emissions

An oil pipeline under construction in east Africa will produce vast amounts of carbon dioxide, according to new analysis. The project will result in 379m tonnes of climate-heating pollution, according to an expert assessment, more than 25 times the combined annual emissions of Uganda and Tanzania, the host nations.

The East African crude oil pipeline (EACOP) will transport oil drilled in a biodiverse national park in Uganda more than 870 miles to a port in Tanzania for export. The main backers of the multibillion dollar project are the French oil company TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

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Health workers among dead in Ugandan Ebola outbreak

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MSF calls situation ‘very serious’ as east African country grapples with outbreak of Sudan strain of virus, for which no vaccine exists

It seems like a normal day in Mubende, central Uganda. Shops remain open, children are at school and public gatherings are allowed, provided people remain socially distant.

The ambulances that whisk past every few hours and the health workers who wash themselves meticulously before they return home are the only indications that it is not business as usual in the densely populated mining district, which is struggling to contain an outbreak of Ebola.

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Ugandan president fires son from military role after ‘capture Nairobi’ tweet

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Latest in series of provocative tweets leads to removal of Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba as infantry commander

The Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, has fired his son as commander of the country’s infantry forces after the son tweeted an unprovoked threat to capture the capital of neighbouring Kenya, drawing widespread concern in east Africa.

Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, labelled “the tweeting general” of Uganda, in recent months had sparked anger among some Ugandans who see his frequent tweets as provocative and sometimes dangerous.

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Uganda’s suspension of LGBT charity a ‘clear witch-hunt’, say campaigners

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Country’s government says Sexual Minorities Uganda ‘operating illegally’ in east African nation

The Ugandan government has suspended the country’s leading gay rights organisation, accusing it of operating illegally in the east African nation, in a move campaigners condemned as “a clear witch-hunt”.

The National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) – part of the internal affairs ministry – announced on Friday that it had suspended Sexual Minorities Uganda (Smug) for not registering with the authorities.

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At least 24 people dead as flash flooding hits eastern Uganda

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More than 5,600 displaced and 400,000 left without clean water after heavy rain causes two rivers to burst banks

At least 24 people have died and more than 5,600 people have been displaced by flash flooding in eastern Uganda.

Two rivers burst their banks after heavy rainfall swept through the city of Mbale over the weekend, submerging homes, shops and roads, and uprooting water pipes. About 400,000 people have been left without clean water, and more than 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of crops have been destroyed.

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Lavrov’s African tour another front in struggle between west and Moscow

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Analysis: Foreign minister seeks to win friends and influence people in countries where closeness can be traced back to USSR

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, is arriving in Uganda on the latest stop of his tour of Africa, aimed at rallying support on the continent for Russia as the war in Ukraine goes into its sixth month.

Many African leaders have refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and have accused the US and Nato of starting or prolonging the conflict.

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Growing numbers of young Africans want to move abroad, survey suggests

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Covid, climate, stability and violence contributing to young people feeling pessimistic about future, survey of 15 countries suggests

African youth have lost confidence in their own countries and the continent as a whole to meet their aspirations and a rising number are considering moving abroad, according to a survey of young people from 15 countries.

The pandemic, climate crisis, political instability and violence have all contributed to making young people “jittery” about their futures since the Covid pandemic began, according to the African Youth Survey published on Monday.

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‘We’ve got other things to worry about’: former colonies react to platinum jubilee

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In Africa, celebrations in honour of the Queen stir nostalgia in some, resentment in others

The jubilee has met with a muted response in much of sub-Saharan Africa, with commentators evoking the troubled history of the British empire, London’s diminished influence and the distraction of deepening economic problems on the continent to explain the apparent apathy.

Buckingham Palace listed 18 official beacons lit in commemoration across Africa last week, and Seychelles president Wavel Ramkalawan described the Queen as “a remarkable global personality whose legacy transcends national borders” who was “loved and respected by the entire world”. But such sentiments are not universal.

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‘You hear bullets, you run’: Congolese refugees stream over Uganda’s border

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As thousands flee the latest fighting in DRC to join 1.5m already in Uganda, the UN’s food aid agency is stretched as never before

The rain will determine what time Uwimana Nsengiyuava gets on the truck to Nyakabande transit centre, where Uganda is hosting 20,000 refugees who, like her, have fled fresh fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Since March, up to 500 refugees a day have been silently streaming into the east African country via Kisoro, a picturesque district in south-west Uganda dotted with endless hills, streams and a lake.

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US supreme court abortion reversal would be global ‘catastrophe’ for women

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If Roe v Wade is overturned, it will encourage anti-choice groups – particularly in the developing world, activists warn

The probable demise of abortion as a federal right in the US will be a “catastrophe” for women in low and middle-income countries, with an emboldened anti-choice movement likely to raise renewed pressure on hard-won gains, doctors and activists have warned.

The leak this month of the US supreme court’s draft majority opinion, which argued that the 1973 ruling effectively legalising abortion had been “egregiously wrong from the start”, stunned and enraged many in America.

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