Nigerian authorities say a rehabilitation program for former Boko Haram sect fighters is helping weaken the group’s fighting power. Nearly 600 fighters graduated from the program over the weekend and tendered a public apology for their actions. Authorities say they will be reintegrated into society, but experts are warning of possible relapse.

The former Boko Haram fighters dressed in white simultaneously and echoed an oath of allegiance to Nigeria during a graduation ceremony Saturday at the De-radicalization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DRR) camp in northern Gombe state.

They’re the latest batch of voluntary defectors from the sect to undergo the six-month physical, mental and psychosocial rehabilitation program tagged Operation Safe Corridor.

Nigerian authorities started the safe exit program in July 2016 as a strategy to degrade the fighting power of terror groups like Boko Haram.

Program coordinator Uche Nnabuihe spoke to Lagos-based television during the ceremony.

“Based on the therapeutic interventions these sets of clients have undergone, they’re better citizens from when they initially arrived at the DRR camp and accordingly are certified fit for graduation and subsequent reintegration to their respective communities,” Nnabuihe said.

Authorities said three of the graduates are from Niger and one from Chad, while the rest are Nigerians mostly from Borneo, Adamawa, Yobe, Zamfara, Niger and Nassarawa states.

The former fighters offered a public apology and promised to embrace peace in their respective communities.

Security analyst Senator Iroegbu said in theory the program could help but warns there could be relapses.

“Repentance is a thing of the mind,” Iroegbu said. “Someone can pretend to have repented because the conditions to express himself otherwise are not there. This is a controversial program in many facets. There’ll always be resistance to it. What has been the impact? Has it been able to stop more recruitment?”

Authorities say thousands of repentant Boko Haram members have been freed since 2019 and that they have become productive members of society.

But in 2021, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum called for a review of the program, saying ex-Boko Haram members spy on communities and then rejoin the group.

Local communities in Borno, which is the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency, have also questioned the program.

Vivian Bellonwu, founder of Social Action Nigeria, explained why.

“It appears rehabilitation attention has mostly been focused on the rebels themselves, whereas the communities also suffered very far-reaching trauma,” Bellonwu said. “And they are actually supposed to undergo psychological, psychosocial rehabilitation. And I have not seen this sufficiently being done for them.”

Bellonwu said it will not be easy for the former fighters to be accepted back into the communities they once harmed.

“These are communities that have been abducted en masse, Bellonwu said. “Their women have been raped. Some of the children have watched their parents being slaughtered by these elements. These kinds of things have a way of having a lasting impact in the minds of the victims. How do you expect them to forget?”

Boko Haram has been fighting to create an Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria since 2009. The violence has led to tens of thousands of deaths and spilled over into neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

On Sunday, Nigerian defense authorities said some 51,000 Boko Haram militants and their families surrendered to Nigerian forces between July 2021 and May 2022.
…

your ad here

Islamist militant attacks in southern Burkina Faso have raised concerns that young people across the border in Ghana may be drawn to extremism due to a lack of economic opportunities. Aid group Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment, or RISE-Ghana, is using arts and entertainment to rally youth against extremism through a program they call “Peace in Schools.” Senanu Tord reports from Bolgatanga, Ghana.
…

your ad here

Just the size of his hand, the radio set hung in the busy marketplace stall is essential to Mark Nyabanda.

“I can’t do without it,” said the 25-year-old, taking a break from selling fertilizer in Mbare market in the capital, Harare, to listen to a radio weather report warning of possible floods.

Radio bulletins also provide him with information on disease outbreaks, political news and entertainment, he said.

“I don’t trust these new technologies,” he said, referring to social media. “They are full of falsehoods. We saw it during the coronavirus outbreak.”

In many Western countries, conventional radio has been overtaken by streaming, podcasts and on-demand content accessed via smartphones and computers.

But in many of Africa’s 54 countries, with a combined population of 1.3 billion people, traditional radio sets are widely used, highlighting the digital divide between rich countries and those still struggling to have reliable internet.

Radio sets are all over the place in Zimbabwe. Rural livestock herders dangle them from their necks while tending animals while those in the cities listen to their radio sets for news.

When schools closed during the coronavirus pandemic, sub-Saharan African had the highest proportion of schoolchildren who lacked internet connectivity to participate in remote learning online lessons, according to the United Nations children’s agency.

Many students relied on lessons beamed via tiny solar-powered radio sets at home.

More than 80% of people in Africa own a mobile phone with access to a mobile phone network, according to Afrobarometer, a leading research institute. But “fewer than half” have mobile phones with internet access. The number of those who have access to computers at home is even lower at 28% of people polled in 34 African countries in a survey on the digital divide published in December last year.

“Closing the digital divide remains a critical issue for most African countries, and for the continent as a whole,” said Afrobarometer.

The lack of internet connectivity means traditional radio “remains king,” said Afrobarometer in another survey last year.

Radio is “overwhelmingly” the most common source of news in Africa, according to the survey. About 68% of respondents said they tuned in at least a few times a week, compared to about 40% who use social media and the internet.

Traditional radio sets are easy and inexpensive to use versus the higher cost and logistical problems of getting access to the internet.

Many small radio sets now come with inbuilt solar panels that allow people to listen to broadcasts even when they don’t have electricity. Especially in vogue are radios that also now come with a cell phone charger and a flashlight — all huge conveniences in a continent where electricity outages are rampant and internet connection spots are often distant.

“People don’t have to worry about network or data expenses. And one can’t be switched off for not paying license fees,” said Stanley Tsarwe, coordinator of journalism studies at the University of Zimbabwe. “The radio set has become very powerful and multi-functional and that becomes critical in Africa where access to power and access to the internet are very limited” he said.

Many people trust information from their radio sets over other sources, said John Masuku, a veteran radio broadcaster of five decades.

“There is a lot of disinformation and misinformation, so people still want to check … if it is not said on radio then it is not fact. That is why radio is popular and celebrated in Africa,” he said.

Broadcasts in local languages also attract radio listeners. Zimbabwe’s state radio and a host of community stations offer broadcasts in Shona, Ndebele and 12 other local languages, he said.

However, the way many in Africa listen to the radio is changing as internet penetration improves. The number of people getting news at least “a few times a week” from either social media or the internet or both has almost doubled from 24% to 43% over the past decade, according to Afrobarometer.

The falling prices of mobile phones that can access FM radio stations is also shifting how people listen to radio in Africa, said Tsarwe of the University of Zimbabwe.

“There is an ongoing convergence between radio and digital mobile technologies, especially the mobile phone,” he said. “Radio is integrating more rapidly with the mobile phone because it is much more accessible in Africa. The mobile phone is the future of radio in Africa.”
…

your ad here

Nearly two hundred people demonstrated this week in support of Russia and China in the Central African Republic after nine Chinese workers were killed by gunmen in an attack. 

The CAR is one of Africa’s poorest countries and has been battling rebel groups for a decade. 

Without evidence, the CAR government blamed rebels for the killings. But the rebels are pointing the finger at Russia’s Wagner group, which has been deployed in the capital Bangui since 2018 to protect the CAR government. 

At the demonstrations that took place in Bangui Wednesday inscriptions on banners ranged from “Support for China” to “Russia is Wagner, we love Russia. We love Wagner.”

The show of support follows the killing of nine Chinese employees Sunday in a shooting at the Gold Coast Group gold mine.  

Abdoul Asy Babia, a third-year public law student, participated in the protests.

“We stand in solidarity with the embassy and China because China is a great country that has helped the Central African Republic a great deal. We have the example of the Amities … and the Domicien hospitals.”

This iwas not the first time Chinese workers have been killed an attack in the CAR, said Charles Bouessel, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group.

“In 2019 for instance, three Chinese workers were killed in the northwest of the country, he said. “They were lynched by the population, which accused them of not respecting the law. … This manifestation happened the day after [Russian President] Vladimir Putin met with [Chinese President] Xi Jinping. We see on the international side that China and Russia are allied and the accusations [by the Coalition of Patriots for Change] that Wagner was behind this attack could’ve harmed the relationship between China and Russia.”  

Without evidence, Prime Minister Felix Moloua, last Sunday, blamed the attack on the CPC, an alliance of rebel groups.  

“The CPC is composed of six of the most powerful armed groups of the country,” said Bouessel. “It was created in late 2020 to overthrow the current regime [of President Austin Archange Touadera]. CPC launched an attack in January 2021 but it failed and it brought CPC to reorganize itself. … Until a few months ago, the CPC leader was Francois Bozize.”  

But exiled former CAR President Francois Bozize has relocated recently to Guinea Bissau. So, the CPC leadership seems to have shifted, Bouessel told VOA.  

“For now, we see the two warlords may be the most important leaders of this coalition right now,” he said. It’s Noureddine Adam, former leader of SPSC armed group, which is part of the CPC and the other one is Ali Darassa who runs the UPC armed group.”

In a statement, the CPC denied being involved in the gold mine attack and accused Russia’s Wagner mercenary group of being behind it, also without providing evidence.  

Russian paramilitaries were deployed to the CAR in 2018 to fend off an assault on the capital by the CPC.

Abdoulaye Diarra, an Amnesty International researcher based in Dakar, Senegal, told VOA it’s difficult to say who’s responsible for the killings because of conditions in the area where they took place.  

“The Chimboro area is near 25 kilometers from Bambari and this area is at the heart of rivalries for access to resources, in particular gold,” he said. In the past, the area was occupied by armed groups belonging to CPC and they use to take illegal taxes from gold miners to help them finance their activities, but since December 2020, they were driven out and the authorities have relative control actually of the gold mine …. Security is not fully restored and you still have some insecurity that remains in this area.”

Diarra’s team has spoken to residents.

“Local sources told us that the attacks started at 5 am and [lasted] for at least one hour. They don’t know who exactly the perpetrators are.”

Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi called on Bangui to “severely punish” the killers.
…

your ad here

Tunisia’s coastguard said Sunday the bodies of 29 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries had been recovered after three vessels capsized.

It also “rescued 11 illegal migrants of various African nationalities after their boats sank” off the central eastern coast, it said in a statement, citing three separate sinkings.

In one incident, a Tunisian fishing trawler recovered 19 bodies 58 kilometers (36 miles) off the coast after their boat capsized.

A coastguard patrol off the coastal city of Mahdiya also recovered eight bodies and “rescued” 11 other migrants after their boat sank as it headed towards Italy.

Fishing trawlers in Sfax meanwhile recovered two other bodies.

A string of shipwrecks have left dozens of migrants dead and others missing since President Kais Saied made an incendiary speech last month, accusing sub-Saharan Africans of representing a demographic threat and causing a crime wave in Tunisia.

Black migrants in the country have faced a spike in violence and hundreds have been living in the streets for weeks in increasingly desperate conditions.

People fleeing poverty and violence in Sudan’s Darfur region, West Africa and other parts of the continent have for years used Tunisia as a springboard for often perilous attempts to reach safety and better lives in Europe.

The Italian island of Lampedusa is just 150 kilometers (90 miles) off the Tunisian coast, but Rome has pressured Tunisian authorities to rein in the flow of people, and has helped beef up the coastguard, which rights groups accuse of violence.

Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned Friday that Tunisia’s “serious financial problems” risked sparking a “migratory wave” towards Europe.

She also confirmed plans for a mission to the North African country involving the Italian and French foreign ministers.

Meloni echoed comments earlier in the week by Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, who warned Tunisia risks economic collapse that could trigger a new flow of migrants to Europe — fears Tunis has since dismissed.
…

your ad here

The family of a South African held hostage by jihadis in Mali for more than five years launched a fresh appeal for his release Saturday, just days after a French journalist was freed. 

Gerco van Deventer, 47, was kidnapped in Libya on November 3, 2017, on his way to a power plant construction site about 1,000 kilometers south of the capital, Tripoli. 

Three Turkish engineers seized at the same time were freed seven months later, but Van Deventer remained in captivity and was moved to Mali. 

 

“I’m launching a fresh appeal … we desperately need him home,” his wife, Shereen van Deventer, told AFP. 

“He’s a father of three children,” she added, referring to their children ages 12 to 18 years. 

His parents, in their 80s miss him, so do his siblings, she said. 

“I miss him. It’s time, it’s been too long,” she said.  

“It’s a difficult situation for us as a family, we would really ask for … their (captors’) compassion to release him,” she pleaded speaking from the small town of Swellendam, 220 kilometers east of Cape Town. 

Van Deventer, an emergency paramedic who was working for a security company, is the only South African citizen held hostage by a non-state actor in the Sahel, according to his wife. 

Shereen van Deventer’s fresh call for his release came after French journalist Olivier Dubois, 48, and American aid worker Jeffery Woodke, 61, kidnapped in 2021 and 2016 respectively, were freed. 

Van Deventer, 39, said Dubois’s “release certainly provides us with renewed hope for Gerco’s release.  

In his post-release interview with Radio France Internationale, Dubois said he had spent slightly more than a year with van Deventer in captivity. 

“He’s in his sixth year. He doesn’t deserve this, he needs to go home,” Dubois said. 

There was flurry of negotiations for his release during the first few years after his kidnapping, but the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on those efforts until early this year, said his wife. 

A spokesman for South Africa’s foreign ministry told AFP: “Negotiations are still ongoing, we are trying to get him out.” 

Imtiaz Sooliman, head of a influential South African Muslim charity, Gift of the Givers, which is also involved in mediation for his release, told AFP that a negotiator would be travelling to Mali in the next few days “to appeal to the kidnappers.” 

The charity helped in efforts to secure the 2017 release of Stephen McGown, another South Africa held by al-Qaida in Mali for nearly six years. 

The Sahel has been ravaged by a jihadi campaign that began in northern Mali in 2012, sweeping into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger in 2015. 

Kidnappings of foreigners and Malians are common.  
…

your ad here

From Zimbabwe, where many must work at night because it’s the only time there is power, to Nigeria where collapses of the grid are frequent, the reliable supply of electricity remains elusive across Africa.

The electricity shortages that plague many of Africa’s 54 countries are a serious drain on the continent’s economic growth, energy experts warn.

In recent years South Africa’s power generation has become so inadequate that the continent’s most developed economy must cope with rolling power blackouts of eight to 10 hours per day.

Africa’s sprawling cities have erratic supplies of electricity, but large swaths of the continent’s rural areas have no power at all. In 2021, 43% of Africans — about 600 million people — lacked access to electricity with 590 million of them in sub‐Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Agency.

Investments of nearly $20 billion are required annually to achieve universal electrification across sub-Saharan Africa, according to World Bank estimates. Of that figure nearly $10 billion is needed annually bring power and keep it on in West and Central Africa.

There are many reasons for Africa’s dire delivery of electricity including ageing infrastructure, lack of government oversight and a shortage of skills to maintain the national grids, according to Andrew Lawrence, an energy expert at the Witwatersrand University Business School in Johannesburg.

A historical problem is that many colonial regimes built electrical systems largely reserved for the minority white population and which excluded large parts of the Black population.

Today many African countries rely on state-owned power utilities.

Much attention has focused in the past two years on the Western-funded “Just Energy Transition,” in which France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union are offering funds to help poorer countries move from highly polluting coal-fired power generation to renewable, environmentally friendly sources of power. Africa as a region should be among the major beneficiaries in order to expand electricity access on the continent and improve the struggling power grids, said Lawrence.

“The transition should target rural access and place at the forefront the electrification of the continent as a whole. This is something that is technically possible,” he said.

The Western powers vowed to make $8.5 billion available to help South Africa move away from its coal-fired power plants, which produce 80% of the country’s power.

As a result of its dependence upon coal, South Africa is among the top 20 highest emitters of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the world and accounts for nearly a third of all of Africa’s emissions, according to experts.

South Africa’s plan to move away from coal, however, is hampered by its pressing need to produce as much power as possible each day.

The East African nation of Uganda for years has also grappled with power cuts despite massive investment in electricity generation.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has grappled with an inadequate power supply for many years, generating just 4,000 megawatts though the population of more than 210 million people needs 30,000 megawatts, say experts. The oil-rich but energy-poor West African nation has ramped up investments in the power sector but endemic corruption and mismanagement have resulted in little gains.

In Zimbabwe, electricity shortages that have plagued the country for years have worsened as the state authority that manages Kariba, the country’s biggest dam, has limited power generation due to low water levels.

Successive droughts have reduced Lake Kariba’s level so much that the Kariba South Hydro Power Station, which provides Zimbabwe with about 70% of its electricity, is currently producing just 300 megawatts, far less than its capacity of 1,050 megawatts.

Zimbabwe’s coal-fired power stations that also provide some electricity have become unreliable due to aging infrastructure marked by frequent breakdowns. The country’s solar potential is yet to be fully developed to meaningfully augment supply.

This means that Harare barber Omar Chienda never knows when he’ll have the power needed to run his electric clippers.

“What can we do? We just have to wait until electricity is back but most of the time it comes back at night,” said Chienda, a 39-year-old father of three. “That means I can’t work, my family goes hungry.”

In Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja, restaurant owner Favour Ben, 29, said she spends a large part of her monthly budget on electricity bills and on petrol for her generator, but adds that she gets only an average of seven hours of power daily.

“It has been very difficult, especially after paying your electricity bill and they don’t give you light.” said Ben. “Most times, I prepare customers’ orders but if there is no light (power for a refrigerator), it turns bad the next day (and) I have lost money for that.”

Businesses in Nigeria suffer an annual loss of $29 billion as a result of unreliable electricity, the World Bank said, with providers of essential services often struggling to keep their operations afloat on generators.

As delegates gathered in Cape Town this month to discuss Africa’s energy challenges, there was a resounding sentiment that drawn-out power shortages on the continent had to be addressed urgently. There was some hope that the Western-funded “Just Energy Transition” would create some opportunities, but many remained skeptical.

Among the biggest critics of efforts to have countries like South Africa to transition quickly from the use of coal to cleaner energy is South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe.

He is among those advocating that Africa use all sources available to it to produce adequate power for the continent, including natural gas, solar, wind, hydropower and especially coal.

“Coal will be with us for many years to come. Those who see it as corruption or a road to whatever, they are going to be disappointed for many, many years,” said Mantashe. “Coal is going to outlive many of us.”
…

your ad here

The shooting deaths of two drivers with the U.N.’s World Food Program in South Sudan last week underscored the country’s status as one of the deadliest for aid workers. But aid workers say help is needed now more than ever as the World Bank estimates more than 9 million people will need assistance this year.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been close to 20 attacks on humanitarian aid workers, according to the World Food Program country director in South Sudan, Mary Ellan. She said the attacks could result in a large-scale loss of life if not stopped.

In January of this year, for example, over 300 tons of food were looted in Jonglei state. “That’s enough food to feed 30,000 people for a month,” she said. “These acts are deplorable because that road going to northern Jonglei and into Pibor is an artery of hope for over 1 million people who are currently food insecure.”

The attack in Jonglei state that killed the two drivers led the WFP to temporarily halt food deliveries throughout the area.

Roads to areas in need of aid are often flooded and in disrepair, and aid workers say they face chronic danger from rebels, bandits and police.

Many checkpoints

Ellan described a typical trip:

“There is a proliferation of checkpoints. Our convoys spend a lot of time negotiating at these checkpoints to get past. We don’t pay, but it takes time, and we lose hours delivering humanitarian cargo. Humanitarian cargo is not subject to taxes and levies.”

Peter Pal leads the Rapid Response Mechanism, the WFP team that delivers food assistance to remote areas of the country. He often takes the long journey on the highways from Juba to the most remote parts of the country, gathering data, registering individuals who have been rescued and delivering food to remote regions, often with no road access.

“We were doing registration and the water levels [rose], and for us to serve everyone coming to be registered, we have to bring the services closer to the people,” Pal said.

“We have to use the canoes, put the generators [in them], cross [to] the other side of the swamp and register them. This is not that easy, because we have to cross the swamp for 50 minutes on that small canoe with all your equipment.” Later it began to rain, he said, and “we have to cover ourselves with a plastic sheet.”

Pal said that despite working in such a difficult environment, he gets satisfaction from serving those in need of help in some of the remotest areas.

“I think I have the courage of serving the people,” he said. “I am here for a reason, because I am far better off than the suffering men and women. Let the government open humanitarian access to all areas where we serve the people. Let the government also embrace peace.”

Another aid employee, Juma, has been a humanitarian aid worker for five years. He said serving humanity is what makes him happy.

“I want to build a career where I can directly help vulnerable people due to many factors,” he said. “There are incidents where other humanitarian workers have been killed while delivering aid assistance that have greatly affected me, but there is nothing that I can do and I cannot leave my work.”

Long trek in water

However, Juma – who declined to give his real name because he was not authorized to speak to the media – said the job has hard moments, too.

“The regrettable moment that I cannot forget was in 2021 in greater Jonglei,” he said. “In September we walked for 15 hours barefooted in the water to access the areas, so that incident continues to disturb me when I recall about it.”

John Simon Manyuon, Jonglei state’s minister of information, called attacks on aid workers were “alarming and of much concern.” He said the state government was finding it hard to provide security “because we don’t have enough forces and tanks to be stationed along the roads” to address civilian, humanitarian and other needs.

He urged humanitarian organizations to notify the government before sending out convoys so the state government could prepare to provide security for aid workers.
…

your ad here

The Rwandan government has commuted the prison sentence of Paul Rusesabagina nearly three years after he was captured and detained.

Rusesabagina, once a hotel manager in Rwanda’s capital Kigali, is credited with saving hundreds of lives during the country’s 1994 genocide. His actions inspired the Hollywood film “Hotel Rwanda.” 

A statement Friday from the Rwandan Ministry of Justice said sentences for several individuals, including Rusesabagina, “have been commuted by presidential order after consideration of their requests for clemency.” 

The 68-year-old Rwandan hotelier-turned-dissident has been jailed in Rwanda since August 2020, when a plane he believed was headed for Burundi instead landed in Kigali. 

After he left the plane, he was tried and convicted on a slew of terrorism-related charges the following year, over his ties to an organization opposed to President Paul Kagame’s rule.

Rusesabagina has U.S. permanent residency rights, and the U.S. government has described him as “wrongly detained,” in part because of what it called the lack of fair trial guarantees.  

According to media reports, Rwanda government spokesperson Stephanie Nyombayire confirmed to ABC News that Rusesabagina would be released from prison within 24 hours. 
…

your ad here

Vice President Kamala Harris will become the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit the African continent when she begins a tour of Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia next week. Her office says she will work on strengthening partnerships, security and economic prosperity, and analysts say her mere presence – as the first female vice president who has ancestral ties to the continent – is significant in itself. VOA’s Anita Powell, who will be traveling with the vice president, reports from Washington.
…

your ad here

Ethiopia’s prime minister has appointed the spokesperson of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front as head of an interim administration in the Tigray region.

The appointment is the latest sign of progress in the peace deal that ended the two-year war between the government and the TPLF last November.

Getachew Reda’s appointment was announced in a Twitter message from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office Thursday. The interim regional administration will be in place until elections are held for the region.

The peace deal has resulted in the halt of open conflict and a handover of heavy weapons from Tigrayan forces to the federal government. The government has resumed essential services to the region and has opened aid corridors. It also  dropped its designation of the TPLF as a terrorist designation Wednesday, after lawmakers approved the decision by a majority vote.

Reda, along with other Tigrayan officials, had been charged with terrorism under the designation. Ethiopian media reports said those charges were expected to be lifted, though they have yet to be formally discontinued.

A TPLF spokesperson was not immediately available to comment.

Rights groups have accused all sides of committing war crimes during the two-year war, including the TPLF, Ethiopia’s federal government, and Eritrean and regional Amhara forces who fought on the side of the government.
…

your ad here

Human rights activists say Uganda’s passage of an anti-homosexuality bill could be the impetus for similar far-reaching legislation across Africa as anti-gay sentiments grow.

More than 30 African states already have laws that ban same-sex relationships.

Ghana, for example, has recently introduced anti-LGBTQI bills before parliament in an attempt to criminalize consensual same-sex relationships.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “urged the Ugandan government to strongly consider [the impact of] the implementation of this legislation,” saying via Twitter that the bill “could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS.” 

 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the bill “one of the most extreme LGBTQI+ laws in the world.” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby did not rule out U.S. sanctions against Uganda, saying, if enacted, the bill could force “repercussions that we would have to take, perhaps in an economic way.” 

Uganda’s just-passed Anti-Homosexuality Act is seen by human rights activists as a “revised and egregious” version of its 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was struck down by a court on procedural grounds.

The legislation, which President Yoweri Museveni has yet to sign into law, calls for lengthy prison sentences for people who identify as gay or are found to have promoted homosexuality. It establishes the death penalty for homosexual acts with minors, people with disabilities and several other groups. 

Negative and dehumanizing rhetoric against Uganda’s LGBTQI community heightened as legislators debated the bill — and Museveni described gay people as “deviants.” Some supporters of the bill said it would make Uganda comport with God’s wishes.

Robert Akoto Amoafo, advocacy manager at Pan Africa ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Trans and Intersex Association), told VOA from Accra that the passage of Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill is “worrying and concerning” for the LGBTQI community across Africa.

“This bill takes the basic rights of individuals across Uganda away from them by forcing them to report people, and then also forcing them to out their family members or friends or colleagues based on perception,” he said, noting that “this is one thing that most of the time we lose sight of.”

He said the bill would deepen discrimination in a country where LGBTQI persons already face punishment for having “carnal knowledge against the order of nature.”

“People don’t want to be associated with [homosexuals] because of the possibility of being tagged a criminal for not reporting. So, this clearly shows that the bill has gone beyond a homosexual issue to that of a human rights discussion.”

On March 9, Human Rights Watch said the bill, if passed, “would violate multiple fundamental human rights.” 

Oryem Nyeko, a Uganda researcher at the international human rights organization, told VOA that he’s “disappointed” at the bill’s passage, describing it as “regressive.” 

Nyeko said there’s high possibility of the bill becoming the norm across the continent because “historically, when one African country puts in place a repressive policy, other countries replicate it.”

“Politicians are distracting from the contemporary issues that are facing ordinary Ugandans by picking the low-hanging fruit — which is this idea of homosexuality being the cause of sexual abuse of children,” he said.

“I definitely see other politicians and other public figures in other [African] countries using the same tactic,” he added. 

Some socially conservative groups applauded the Ugandan bill. 

Tony Perkins, president of Washington-based Family Research Council, tweeted Wednesday that “Gender/Sexual ideology is not enshrined in international human rights treaties.” He decried the Biden administration’s response to the bill, writing, “It is inappropriate and coercive to shame countries for their traditional values.” 

In Uganda, many fear the challenges sexual minorities already face will worsen. Eric Ndwula, a 26-year-old LGBTQI activist, told Reuters that his landlord issued him an eviction notice this month after a video of him being identified as gay went viral.

“I have been in this house for over four years. And I have never — no neighbor here could come and say that ‘You have recruited my child into homosexuality.’ Or by the mere fact that they are looking at a homosexual, they have become homosexuals.”

Museveni has yet to sign the bill into law amid calls by the international community, including the United Nations, to reject it.

Nyeko said despite Museveni’s past rhetoric against the LGBTQI community, the Ugandan president has been a “relative ally” toward the community.

“Just two years ago, Museveni declined to sign the sexual offenses bill which had similar provisions but not as extensive as this one,” Nyeko said, adding that “his [Museveni’s] argument was that the penal code already provided for that.” 
…

your ad here