Defying international disapproval from western donor nations, Uganda's president has signed a controversial law allowing those convicted of homosexuality to be imprisoned for life.
At a public ceremony in a packed room at the State House in Entebbe, Yoweri Museveni
formally initialled the anti-homosexuality act, which also outlaws the
promotion of homosexuality and requires citizens to denounce to the
police anyone suspected of being gay.
"No study has shown you can
be homosexual by nature. That's why I have agreed to sign the bill,"
Museveni said in a speech at the presidential palace near the capital,
Kampala.
"Outsiders cannot dictate to us. This is our country. I
advise friends from the west not to make this an issue, because if they
make it an issue the more they will lose. If the west does not want to
work with us because of homosexuals, then we have enough space to
ourselves here."
Supporters clapped and laughed during the press
conference. One MP sitting at a white table in the front row, said: "I
hope the Obamas are receiving it live, Desmond Tutu, Cameron …
[Museveni] has resisted them."
The ethics and integrity minister,
Simon Lokodo, said: "I feel very fulfilled, very elated, because at last
my head of state has pronounced it on behalf of the entire nation,
Uganda, that this is a bill that was worth putting in place."
David
Bahati, the MP who introduced the bill, added: "This is a victory for
the family of Uganda, a victory for the future of our children, and a
triumph of sovereignty of our country."
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