While Ugandan President Museveni mets in Washington with President Obama and other African heads of state, Parliament Watch reports that members of Uganda Parliament reaffirmed its commitment to passing the Anti-Homosexuality Act.
MP Sebagala : We want the speaker to allow us suspend our rules of procedure so we can have the #AHA2014 back and passed in 3 days .
— Parliament Watch (@pwatchug) August 5, 2014
Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act was struck down late last week after being enacted in February after being determined "null and void" because the Parliament lacked quorum when it passed the bill in December. That ruling was only two days before Uganda President Yoweri Museveni flew to Washington, D.C., for a U.S.-Africa Summit.
MP Sebagala : Whether we stay hungry and get no donations we shall pass the Anti Homosexuality Act again as Mps .#AHA2014
— Parliament Watch (@pwatchug) August 5, 2014
The U.S. has called the AHA "atrocious" and compared the situation in Uganda to Nazi rule in Germany and apartheid in South Africa, according to Reuters. The U.S. cut off aid and imposed visa restrictions in June.
Mps are now holding hands and singing "we shall never allow Homosexuality"#AHA2014pic.twitter.com/VIz1VbnTA2
— Parliament Watch (@pwatchug) August 5, 2014
The law punished "aggravated homosexuality" with life imprisonment and posed a major obstacle to pro-equality activists in Uganda.
The List of Mps who have signed and agreed that the Anti Homosexuality Act to be brought back to parliament.#AHA2014pic.twitter.com/FrH7wY3SPq
— Parliament Watch (@pwatchug) August 5, 2014
Reuters reports that MP Abdu Latif Ssebaggala expects to have over 200 signatures – out of 383 members – in support of reintroducing the bill.
MP Kwizera : The court did not nullify the principal of the law but the method of its passing therefore the law will come back.#AHA2014
— Parliament Watch (@pwatchug) August 5, 2014
The situation in Uganda is critical with a real threat that same-sex activity will be recriminalized. Last week, HRC Foundation and the Human Rights Watch released a joint report on the status of LGBT rights in Africa. The summit provided an opportunity for President Obama to address recent backsliding on LGBT rights in Africa, but the summit drew little attention to LGBT human rights violations.