Africa

Uganda Bill Criminalizing Homosexuality Suggests Death Penalty

By Jennifer M. Haralambides

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago – New anti-gay bill in Uganda proposes the death penalty and long prison sentences for homosexual acts.

According to Canada.com, Prime Minister, Stephen Harper told reporters that he met privately with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni during the Commonwealth leaders’ summit to express “Canada’s deep concern and strong opposition to the bill.”

Additionally, Harper told Canada.com reporters, “We deplore these kinds of measures.  We find them inconsistent with any reasonable understanding of human rights.”

This bill proposes execution for AIDS-infected gays and lesbians who have sex and makes it mandatory for all Ugandans, including family and friends, to report such sexual activity to authorities within twenty four hours.  Life imprisonment is the minimum punishment for anyone convicted of having gay sex.

Human rights activists say this bill will result in a which hunt.

“The bill is haunting us,” said Frank Mugisha, chairman of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a coalition of local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex groups that will be banned under the law.  “If this passes we will have to leave the country.”

Steven Lewis, Canadian HIV-AIDS activist came to Trinidad in order to protest the bill.  He claims the bill is designed to demonize homosexuality and it intensify the stigma suffered by all AIDS sufferers in Africa and drive gay men and women underground.

“It will diminish dramatically the prospect of counseling and testing to establish HIV status,” he said, “and make it virtually impossible to reach homosexuals with the knowledge and education and condoms that prevent the spread of AIDS.”

There is a rooted base of homophobia in Uganda.  This movement is also aided by US-linked evangelical campaigns who are trying to stop gay men from “recruiting” school children, and are trying to “cure” those who are inflicted with homosexuality.

“We are talking about anal sex.  Not even animals do that,” said James Nsaba Bururo.  He added that he was personally caring for six “former homosexuals” who had been traumatized by their experiences.  “We believe there are limits to human rights.”

The Prime Minister of Trinidad, Patrick Manning dismissed the bill as an “internal matter” stating that it had no place on the summit agenda, and should not have been discussed.

Of the fifty three Commonwealth member states, over forty still criminalize same-sex relations.  They criminalize otherwise law abiding citizens and contribute to a hostile social atmosphere which demonizes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as though they are unnatural, abnormal and criminal.

For more information, please see:

Canada.com – Harper Slams Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill – 29 November 2009

Guardian.co.uk – Uganda Considers Death Sentence for Gay Sex in Bill Before Parliament – 29 November 2009

The Star – Harper Scolds Uganda on Law that Would Jail Homosexuals – 29 November 2009

Daily Mail – Gordon Brown Caught Up in gay Rights Storm as Uganda Debates Death Penalty for Homosexuals – 30 November 2009

Brown Discusses the Possibility of Harare’s Readmission

By Jennifer M. Haralambides

HARARE, Zimbabwe – Gordon Brown said that significant reforms are still needed by the national unity government in Harare before they can be readmitted to the Commonwealth.

In 2003, President Robert Mugabe resigned Zimbabwe’s membership in the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of their continued suspension over human rights issues.

Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, has raised the possibility of readmitting Harare while he was on his way to the summit of Commonwealth nations in Trinidad and Tobago that opened on Friday.  This would be the first time in years the Commonwealth leaders were scheduled to debate whether they should allow Zimbabwe back into the fifty three member club.

Brown said that although they are aware of the progress made by the unity government, Britain remains concerned about the rate at which the reform is taking place.  In an article for the Zimbabwe Independent Newspaper, Brown was quoted saying that the power-sharing government had made some recognized achievements such as raising the living standards of local residents, and taming of hyper-inflation.

The next step should be for the Commonwealth to make an offer of readmission that is conditional on the Zimbabwean government’s fulfillment of the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA) on power-sharing.  The agreement was intended to lead to a new constitution by August 2010 and free elections.

“I sincerely hope that by the time of our next meeting in 2011, Zimbabwe will have made enough progress for us to welcome them back into the Commonwealth,” said Brown.

Brown wants to see progress on reforms in security, justice, and the economy.  He would also like to see Zimbabwe embrace a “vibrant free press.”  Moreover, the most important implementation Brown is hoping for is a genuinely free and fair election.

News reports quoted Didymus Mutasa, the Zimbabwe’s Minister of State, saying that Zimbabwe did not want want to rejoin the commonwealth.  Also, some skeptics say that Mr. Mugabe is using the illusion of a power-sharing relationship with Mr. Tsvangirai as a way of re-establishing himself in the international community as statesman.

For more information, please see:

The Sydney Morning Herald – Mugabe’s Fate – 29 November 2009

Telegraph.co.uk – Robert Mugabe: Will Zimbabwe be Let Back Into Commonwealth? – 28 November 2009

Reuters – Brown Hopes Zimbabwe Can Rejoin Commonwealth – 27 November 2009

VOA – Britain’s Gordon Brown Moots Readmission of Zimbabwe to Commonwealth – 27 November 2009

UN Helicopter Attacked in DR Congo

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DR Congo – A UN helicopter flying over northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) on Thursday was fired at, injuring five people on board.  This is the second time this week that gunmen fired at UN helicopters.

According to MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, the helicopter was in the town of Dongo in Equateur province delivering supplies to twenty recently deployed Ghanaian peacekeepers.  Five of the thirty onboard were injured and the pilot quickly took off and landed in neighboring Republic of Congo instead.  Upon arrival in Republic of Congo, those injured were tended to.

The helicopter “was attacked while it was on the ground.  It seems there were five people wounded but their lives are not in danger,” said MONUC spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai.

Armed movement Patriots-Resistance of Dongo claimed the attacks.  The movement, in a confused statement, denounced MONUC’s alleged “complicity” with Rwandan occupation forces, or “Mafia-like imperialists,” who the movement alleges is in the area.

“The Patriots-Resistance have again inflicted a resounding failure on the occupation forces and have retaken the town of Dongo.  A MONUC helicopter engaged in the fighting was hit by our fire,” said Patriots-Resistance spokesman Ambroise Lobala Mokobe.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack that left three peacekeepers, a member of the Congolese national police, and a civilian pilot wounded.

“The Secretary-General calls on the Government of the DRC to ensure that the perpetrators of the attack against MONUC are held accountable,” said his spokesperson.

Additionally, the Secretary General has charged MONUC with assisting the government in protecting the civilian villagers in Dongo, and has encouraged the government to move toward a peaceful resolution of these violent clashes.  He has pledged MONUC’s assistance to the government in reaching a peaceful end to the violence.

The fighting in Dongo escalated last month when over 100 people were killed, including forty-seven policemen.  The local Lobala and Boba tribes are fighting over fishing rights.  At least 50,000 people have fled their homes because of the violence.

For more information, please see:

Xinhua – UN Chief Condemns Attack on UN Helicopter in DR Congo – 28 November 2009

AP – UN Helicopter Attacked in DR Congo; 4 Wounded – 27 November 2009

UN News Centre – Ban Deplores Attack on UN Helicopter in DR Congo – 27 November 2009

AFP – Armed Group Claims Firing at UN Chopper in DR. Congo – 26 November 2009

Reuters – Congo Gunmen Fire at U.N. Helicopter, Five Wounded – 26 November 2009

UN Expert Calls for End to Inhuman Practices Following Stonings in Somalia

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Following the recent stonings in Somalia an independent UN expert called for an end to the “cruel, inhuman and degrading” practices taking place there.

Shamsul Bari, the Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Somalia, said the executions by flogging and stoning highlight the “deteriorating” human rights situation in this country.

“I strongly condemn these recent executions by stoning in Al-Shabaab-controlled areas of Somalia,” he said.

According to the strict interpretation of Sharia law (Islamic law) that Al-Shabaab follows, one can be found guilty of adultery if he or she has an affair and has ever been married, even if divorced.  An adultery offense is punishable by stoning to death.  An unmarried person who has sex before marriage is liable for 100 lashes.

Last week, a 20-year-old divorced woman from a small village near the town of Wajid (250 miles from the capital of Mogadishu) was buried up to her waist and stoned to death in front of a crowd of about 200 on the public grounds.  Her boyfriend was sentenced to 100 lashes.

Judge Sheikh Ibrahim Abdirahman, who works for Al-Shabaab militant group, said she was guilty of having an affair with an unmarried 29-year-old man and giving birth to his stillborn child.  That made her guilty of the offense.

This is believed to be the second woman stoned to death by Al-Shabaab for committing adultery.

Last year a 13-year-old girl was stoned to death for adultery after she was gang raped.  Islamist militants, however, said she was older and married.  She was buried up to her neck and stoned to death by 50 men in front of a crowd of 1,000.

Earlier this month a man was stoned to death for adultery.  His pregnant girlfriend awaits the same punishment but has been spared until she gives birth.

Somalia’s moderate Islamist president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed believes Al-Shabaab is ruining Islam’s image by killing people and harassing women, saying, “Their actions have nothing to do with Islam.”

Bari has urged all Islamist groups and religious leaders to follow their obligations under international human rights and humanitarian laws.

For more information, please see:

UN News Centre – Somalia: UN Expert Urges end to Inhuman Practices After Recent Stonings – 27 November 2009

Examiner – Al-Shabab Stoning Men, Women, Children in Somalia – 21 November 2009

Al Jazeera – Somali Woman Stoned to Death – 19 November 2009

AP – Somali Woman Stoned to Death for Adultery – 18 November 2009

BBC – Somali Womand Stoned for Adultery – 18 November 2009

Temporary Camps For Those Displaced in Burkina Faso Floods Are Set to Expire

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The Burkina Faso government says thousands of flood-displaced families have till November 30th to leave temporary camps that were set up throughout the capital Ouagadougou.

In September severe flooding in Ouagadougou claimed more than 14 lives and left over 150,000 people homeless. Over 10 inches of rainfall was reported on the capital city, the heaviest 12-hour period since 1953. In reaction to the floods, the government, along with the UN and aid agencies, set up temporary housing throughout the capital for those left homeless.

“It will be difficult to leave and relocate at this point,” said Jean Baptiste Bambara, one of some 14,000 displaced people the UN estimates are living at the 18 sites. “Many people do not have homes to go to and living with relatives would place too great a burden.”

The government has designated 15,000 plots of land where displaced families are to relocate, and will give cash and materials to help people rent or build homes, according to officials. “Naturally the deadline will not be the same [for those without any options],” said Housing and Urbanism Minister Vincent Dabilgou. But he said people can live in tents at the new designated sites as they await construction of new homes.

The government is to provide 50,000 CFA francs (US$114) to those who were renting and 280,000 CFA francs in money and building materials to people who lost their own houses to the flooding.

Displaced resident Bambara echoed many other displaced people in saying that the amounts are insufficient. “Many flood victims do not work; the government must help us with more money.”

The government says the project as planned will require about 8 billion CFA francs ($18 million). The money is coming from the government as well as private and public donors to a national fund set up to help flood victims.

The World Food Programme will provide food aid to people upon their departure from the camps, Annalisa Conte, WFP head in Burkina Faso, told IRIN. “We will give a ration that will cover two months of their food needs – cereals, beans, vegetable oil, sugar and fortified food blend for the children.”

Burkina Faso is a landlocked West African country considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world and is ranked 174 of 177 according to the Human Development Index. Burkina Faso has almost half of its population under the poverty line. For every 3.4 children, one will die by the age of 10. These alarming figures have been exacerbated due to the effects of September’s floods.

For more information, please see:

IRIN – Coping With Urban Flood-Displaced – 26 November 2009

Lawrentian – Speaker Brings the Reality of Poverty in Burkina Faso to LU – 13 November 2009

PRNewswire- Barcelona FC Inaugurates a New XICS in Burkina Faso to Offer Comprehensive Attention to More Than 100 Children – 16 November 2009

Reliefweb – IDB Delivers First Batch of Emergency Relief to Flood Victims in Burkina Faso – 09 November 2009