Yoweri Museveni Archives - The African Mirror

Jul

2023

Uganda president says ex-Congo leader gave sanctuary to Islamist rebels

UGANDA'S President Yoweri has accused a former leader from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, of giving sanctuary to Islamist fighters and allowing them to exploit minerals and timber and use the proceeds to build their strength. A former Uganda-based rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) in 2019, has been operating in the jungles of the east of neighbouring Congo for years, carrying out killings of both civilians and security personnel. Last month, fighters from the group crossed the border into Uganda, stormed a secondary school and massacred 42 people, mostly students.…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Ugandan church waged rebellion against tradition – today’s homophobic views are at odds with history

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

ON 26 May Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni assented to the “anti-homosexuality bill” of 2023. The bill’s aim is to protect the “cherished culture of the people of Uganda, (and the) legal, religious, and traditional family values of Ugandans”. In the name of family values the law punishes “serial offenders” with the death penalty. Author DEREK R. PETERSON, Professor of History and African Studies, University of Michigan The Church of Uganda’s archbishop, Stephen Kaziimba, has supported the bill, and when it was signed he expressed his church’s gratitude to the president. Anita Among, the speaker of parliament, celebrated the new law’s…

Jun

2023

By ELIAS BIRYABAREMA

Uganda sends more troops to pursue attackers who killed 37 students

NEWS

UGANDA'S President Yoweri Museveni ordered more troops to western Uganda where attackers from a group with links to Islamic State killed at least 37 secondary school students. Members of the rebel Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed the students late on Friday at Lhubirira Secondary School in Mpondwe, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Military and police said the attackers had also abducted six students and fled towards the Virunga National Park across the border. Their fate is unknown. Museveni said more soldiers had joined the pursuit in the area, which includes Rwenzori Mountain, from where the ADF launched their…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

LGBTQ: Uganda digs its heels in

NEWS

UGANDA'S President Yoweri Museveni has defended signing one of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, with punishments up to and including the death penalty, saying it was needed to prevent LGBTQ community members he said were "disoriented" from "recruiting" others. His comments were the first since he signed the bill into law, triggering widespread Western criticism including threats by U.S. President Joe Biden and others to cut aid to Uganda and impose other sanctions. "The signing is finished, nobody will move us," Museveni said while meeting lawmakers from his National Resistance Movement party, a statement issued by his office late on Wednesday showed. The law…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Anti-LGBTQ law: Uganda accuses West of blackmail

NEWS

UGANDA condemned the Western response to the East African country's new anti-LGBTQ law, considered one of the harshest in the world, and said sanctions threats from donors amounted to "blackmail". The law signed by President Yoweri Museveni carries the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality", an offence that includes transmitting HIV through gay sex. Its enactment, announced on Monday, drew immediate rebukes from Western governments and puts in jeopardy some of the billions of dollars in foreign aid the country receives each year. U.S. President Joe Biden threatened aid cuts and other sanctions, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the government would consider visa…

May

2023

By The African Mirror

Ugandan soldiers die in Somali attack

NEWS

UGANDA'S President Yoweri Museveni said late there had been casualties during an attack by Somalia's Islamist group al Shabaab on a military base manned by Ugandan peacekeepers in the Horn of African country. Museveni did not say how many soldiers were killed or wounded but it was the first official admission of losses in the attack among the Ugandan troops who are serving in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). "Condolences to the country and the families of those who died," Museveni said in a statement, adding the country's military had set up a panel to investigate what…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

LGBTQ Ugandans live in fear as new law looms

Uncategorised

AT a shelter for lesbian women in Uganda's capital Kampala, gone are the days when the residents, having fled abuse and stigma at home, could breathe easy and be themselves. That came to an end a month ago when parliament passed some of the world's strictest anti-LGBTQ legislation, which would criminalise the "promotion" of homosexuality and impose the death penalty for certain crimes involving gay sex. President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday that he supports the legislation but has requested some modifications from parliament, including provisions to "rehabilitate" gay people before he signs it. Staff at the shelter, a nondescript building in…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

Uganda’s president sends anti-LGBTQ bill back to parliament to make it even tougher

NEWS

UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni supports a bill containing some of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ legislation but sent it back to parliament to make it even tougher, the ruling party's chief whip said. A group of lawmakers from Museveni's ruling National Resistance Movement discussed the bill with the president and agreed in principle to sign the bill into law, chief whip Denis Hamson Obua said. "Before that is done we also agree that the bill will be returned in order to facilitate the reinforcement and the strengthening of some provisions in line with our best practices," he told a news conference…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Corporate giants say anti-LGBT law would hurt Uganda’s economy

NEWS

A coalition of international companies, including Google and Microsoft, denounced anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by Uganda's parliament last week, warning it would damage the East African country's economy. The Open for Business coalition said the legislation, which criminalises identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, would curb investment flows and deter tourists. The bill imposes the death penalty for those who commit so-called aggravated homosexuality, defined as same-sex relations with people under the age of 18 or when the perpetrator is HIV positive, among other categories. It awaits President Yoweri Museveni's signature. The White House said last week the bill was concerning and…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Museveni’s son wants to be president

NEWS

THE son of Uganda's ageing leader, Yoweri Museveni, has said he intends to stand for the presidency in 2026, the first time the outspoken general has given a timeline for replacing his father, who has ruled the east African country for 37 years. Uganda's opposition has long accused Museveni of seeking to impose a monarchy on Uganda and claimed he was grooming his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba to take over from him. Museveni has denied such accusations. Currently, a special presidential advisor for special operations, the 48-year-old general is known for firing off controversial tweets that have earned him reprimands from…