Posted on 06/21/2014 5:19:07 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
KAMPALA - Uganda's government Friday said US sanctions slapped on the country for tough anti-gay law would have little impact and rejected rights groups' reports that the legislation had led to a rise in assaults.
"Ugandans know they are moving away from donor dependency," government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told AFP Friday.
"We cannot compel the Americans to give us their money. Ugandans must be ready and we are rightly doing so, paying our bills. We need to be frugal."
In the steps unveiled Thursday, specific Ugandan officials involved in "human rights abuses" -- including against the gay community -- will be barred entry to the US, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.
Signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February, the law calls for "repeat homosexuals" to be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and obliges Ugandans to denounce gays to the authorities. US Secretary of State John Kerry has likened the Ugandan law to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany.
Sanctions include cancelling a military air exercise, imposing visa bans and freezing some aid.
Rights groups say the law has triggered a sharp increase in arrests and assaults of country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International said in a joint report last month the LGBT community had faced a "surge in human rights violations", with people being arrested, evicted or losing their jobs, and at least one transgender person has been murdered since the law was passed.
But the government dismissed the reports, claiming not to have received a "single report about a gay person being intimidated or harassed."
(Excerpt) Read more at newvision.co.ug ...
Probably the US can’t have much influence in Uganda, and that’s partly because Obama has helped turn the US into such a lightweight entity.
We might dispute the wisdom of some of their particulars, but it’s quite clear that Uganda DOES see the gay activism, knows it has a virulent base in both the USA and Europe, and hates the direction in which it tends. That is a useful beginning.
I hope and pray that a greater sense of Christian charity illuminates Uganda as they continue dealing with issues of good and evil, because without the grace of God all are damned (and also because grace can perform great miracles in the life of sex sinners). However, Obama is exactly zero help in that direction.
What is the legal basis for the US actions?
Racist Obama Administration Sanctions Poor Black Nation For Rejecting Obama Promoted Sexual Perversion.
Most excellent, Iron Munro!
Good question, bert.
Was this an action by our duly elected Congress?
Certainly, nobody consulted ME about this.
That became a joke with Obama. If there is one, he ain’t bothering with such a fig leaf.
I suppose there are some peripheral humanitarian concerns. But Obama is not in a position to talk. He’d be the kettle calling the grey wolf black, or something like that.
That is, if we lied like he lies.
Sooo...just curious here. Obama believes that we need to let the middle east fend for them selves unless our interests are at stake. Tell me how another country’s anti gay laws are threatening our national interests???
Obama is going to come out any day now.
Trying to find some concern for Uganda’s queers.
Nope, can’t find any.
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