NAIROBI - Uganda has
seen a rise in attacks on LGBT+ people since a minister proposed
bringing back the death penalty for gay sex, campaigners said on
Tuesday, warning anti-gay rhetoric was fuelling homophobia.
The Ugandan government has since denied it is planning to
reintroduce an old law colloquially known as "Kill the Gays",
but LGBT+ rights groups said there had been a series of attacks
on sexual minorities after the minister's remarks.
Late on Monday, 16 LGBT+ activists were taken into police
custody after a mob shouting homophobic slogans surrounded their
office and residence on the outskirts of Uganda's capital
Kampala.
"What we are seeing recently - these continuous attacks over
such a short space of time - is not normal," Frank Mugisha,
executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), told the
Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"We know that they are all hate crimes as attackers made
anti-gay comments," he said.
Attacks on LGBT+ Ugandans on the rise after minister proposes death for gay sex, according to LGBT+ campaigners. Video: Zodidi Dano/ African News Agency.
"We cannot make a direct link between the minister's
statement and the attacks, but such remarks clearly help to
stoke homophobic sentiments and hate crimes."
On Sunday, a gay Rwandan refugee was beaten outside his
office in Kampala, while on Oct. 13, two transgender women were
beaten when they were leaving a nightclub, campaigners said,
sharing pictures of the victims' bloodied faces on social media.
Police said they had not registered any cases of assaults
specifically targeting sexual minorities, but an incident had
occurred on Monday and some LGBT+ activists were taken into
police custody.
"True there are people whom the community got concerned
(about) and reported to the police that there were a group of
people who are staying in a house and they looked suspicious,"
said Patrick Onyango, Kampala police spokesperson.
"Police went to the house and they are trying to find out if
they are involved in any criminality or illegal activities," he
said, adding that police have asked the public to be vigilant.
Onyango said the attack on the Rwandan refugee had not been
reported. The assaults outside the nightclub where the two
transgender women were attacked were common, he said.
In a statement, the United Nations refugee agency in Uganda
confirmed there was an assault on a Rwandan refugee, but said
they did not have the full information as the victim was still
recovering from his injuries in hospital.
"We trust the Ugandan authorities to ensure that asylum
seekers are able to enjoy asylum without discrimination in line
with international refugee obligations and the 2006 Uganda
Refugee Act," it said.
Uganda is seen as one of the most difficult countries in
Africa to be in a sexual minority with members of the LGBT+
community facing physical violence and harassment to prejudice
in getting jobs, renting housing or seeking medical care.
Human rights groups have said three gay men and a
transgender woman were killed in homophobic attacks in Uganda
this year, the latest on Oct. 4, when a gay man was bludgeoned
to death.
Uganda's Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo said on
Oct. 10 that government planned to re-introduce an
anti-homosexuality bill in parliament.
Lokodo's statement was widely reported and international
donors to Uganda said they were monitoring the situation closely
and stood by the rights of LGBT+ people.
A spokesperson for President Yoweri Museveni later denied
the plan, saying that Uganda's current penal law - which
provides for up to life imprisonment for gay sex - was
sufficient.