Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

World Bank holds up Uganda loan over anti-gay law

-

The World Bank stalled a $90 million loan planned to help Uganda strengthen its health care system on Thursday after the country put in place a harsh anti-gay law.

"We have postponed the project for further review to ensure that the development objectives would not be adversely affected by the enactment of this new law," a spokesman for the global poverty lender said.

The World Bank loan had been slated for approval on Thursday.

The move follows action by Norway and Denmark to freeze or change aid programs for Uganda and blunt criticism from the United States and Sweden after President Yoweri Museveni signed off Monday on one of the world's toughest anti-gay laws.

"Homosexuals are actually mercenaries. They are heterosexual people but because of money they say they are homosexuals," Museveni said at the time.

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the new law as akin to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa.

Earlier Thursday, Uganda's government spokesman Ofwono Opondo brushed off the criticism.

"The West can keep their 'aid' to Uganda over homos, we shall still develop without it," he said via Twitter.

The World Bank stalled a $90 million loan planned to help Uganda strengthen its health care system on Thursday after the country put in place a harsh anti-gay law.

“We have postponed the project for further review to ensure that the development objectives would not be adversely affected by the enactment of this new law,” a spokesman for the global poverty lender said.

The World Bank loan had been slated for approval on Thursday.

The move follows action by Norway and Denmark to freeze or change aid programs for Uganda and blunt criticism from the United States and Sweden after President Yoweri Museveni signed off Monday on one of the world’s toughest anti-gay laws.

“Homosexuals are actually mercenaries. They are heterosexual people but because of money they say they are homosexuals,” Museveni said at the time.

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the new law as akin to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa.

Earlier Thursday, Uganda’s government spokesman Ofwono Opondo brushed off the criticism.

“The West can keep their ‘aid’ to Uganda over homos, we shall still develop without it,” he said via Twitter.

AFP
Written By

With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

You may also like:

Tech & Science

World leaders were set to hold formal talks in Paris on Tuesday on artificial intelligence (AI.

World

The White House posted a photo on social network X of cuffed and shackled people boarding a Venezuelan Conviasa plane.

World

A deluge of disinformation about a flu-like virus called HMPV is stoking anti-China sentiment across Asia.

World

Ending a marriage in Asia's bastion of Catholicism is only possible via annulment, a processes few Filipinos can afford - Copyright AFP/File JAM STA...