U.S. cuts aid to Uganda, cancels military exercise over anti-gay law | Reuters

U.S. cuts aid to Uganda, cancels military exercise over anti-gay law | Reuters





(Reuters) - The
United States on Thursday cut aid to Uganda, imposed visa restrictions
and canceled a regional military exercise in response to a Ugandan law
that imposes harsh penalties on homosexuality.


The White House said in a
statement the measures were intended to "reinforce our support for human
rights of all Ugandans regardless of sexual orientation or gender
identity."

Homosexuality is taboo
in most African countries and illegal in 37, including in Uganda where
it has been a crime since British rule.

Uganda's
new law, signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February, imposes jail
terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" which includes
homosexual sex with a minor or while HIV-positive.

Widely
condemned by donor countries, the law also criminalizes lesbianism for
the first time and makes it a crime to help individuals engage in
homosexual acts.

Western donors,
including the United States, had halted or re-directed about $118
million in aid to the east African nation's economy before Thursday's
announcement.

The White House said
on Thursday the United States would impose visa restrictions on Ugandans
it believes have been involved in human rights violations, including
gay rights.

The United States will
halt $2.4 million in funding for a Ugandan community policing program in
light of a police raid on a U.S.-funded health program at Makerere
University and reports of people detained and abused while in police
custody.

In addition, Washington
will shift some funding for salaries and travel expenses of Ugandan
health ministry employees to non-governmental agencies involved in
health programs.

It will also
reallocate $3 million in funding for a planned national public health
institute in Uganda to another African country, which it did not name. A
National Institutes of Health genomics meeting would be moved from
Uganda to South Africa, the White House said.

It
also canceled plans for a U.S.-sponsored military exercise in Uganda
that was meant to include other East African countries. A date had not
yet been set for the exercise.

Uganda
is a key Western ally in the fight against Islamic extremism in
Somalia, where Ugandan troops for the backbone of the African Union
force battling al Qaeda-aligned militants.

U.S.
special forces have also been involved in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the
elusive rebel commander seeking to topple the Ugandan government. Kony
is believed to be hiding in the jungles of central Africa.

In
Kampala, a government official asked about the U.S. measures said that
Uganda would not alter its decision to toughen laws against homosexuals.

"Uganda
is a sovereign country and can never bow to anybody or be blackmailed
by anybody on a decision it took in its interests, even if it involves
threats to cut off all financial assistance," government spokesman
Ofwono Opondo said.

U.S. President
Barack Obama previously told Museveni the law would complicate
relations between the two countries. Since then Washington has been
reviewing its funding to Uganda, while privately pressing Museveni's
government to repeal the law.