The World
Bank has postponed a loan to Uganda's health system because of the African
country's new anti-gay law. It comes after similar moves from Denmark, the
Netherlands and Norway and criticism from the US.
The World
Bank's loan was worth $90 million dollars (65.6 million euros) to Uganda for
maternal health, newborn care and family planning. It follows decisions by the
Netherlands to freeze a $9.6 million subsidy to Uganda's legal system, while
Denmark and Norway said they would redirect around $8.2 million each towards
private sector initiatives, aid agencies and rights organisations.
"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 bank spokesman said on Thursday. The bank still has a $1.56
billion portfolio of projects in Uganda.
President
Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 28 years, signed a bill into law
which holds that "repeat homosexuals" should be jailed for life,
outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to report on
homosexuals.
In reaction
to the criticism, government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said in a message on
Twitter: "The West can keep their 'aid' to Uganda over homos, we shall
still develop without it."
Names and
photographs of 200 people accused of being gay were printed in a tabloid
newspaper in Uganda this week. 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".
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.
Ugandan gay
rights activist Frank Mugisha met with the top US diplomat for Africa, Linda
Thomas-Greenfield and acting assistant secretary for human rights Uzra Zeya in
Washington on Thursday to discuss "mutual concerns" about safety and
"how the US might respond to the law's enactment."
jm/ccp (AFP, Reuters)
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.