Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has chastised Western countries and human rights organizations for opposing a harsh new anti-gay statute that he has signed into law.
Mr Museveni claimed that the law was irreversible, refusing pleas to reverse it.
“The signing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is complete; no one can move us.” “We should be prepared for war,” he declared in a statement following a meeting with members of his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
“The NRM has never had two languages; what we tell you during the day is what we will tell you at night,” he continued.
US Vice President Joe Biden branded the bill a “tragic violation of universal human rights” and demanded its repeal, adding that the US was considering penalties.
The European Union and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have also criticised the measure.
Mr Museveni signed the bill into law after parliament softened it down at his request, but it remains one of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ legislation.
Anyone found guilty of gay sexual acts faces life in jail. The death sentence is also imposed in “aggravated cases,” which include statutory rape of a person under the age of 18 or infection with a life-long sickness such as HIV.
“The NRM has never had two languages; what we tell you during the day is what we will tell you at night,” he continued.
Anyone found guilty of gay sexual acts faces life in jail. The death sentence is also imposed in “aggravated cases,” which include statutory rape of a person under the age of 18 or infection with a life-long sickness such as HIV.
