Cape Town – President Barack Obama has reportedly warned Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni that enacting an anti-gay law will “complicate our valued relationship”.
Museveni on Friday said he would sign a controversial anti-gay bill into law, warning that those who promoted homosexuality would be dealt with harshly.
Museveni indicated in January that he was planning to shelve the bill, which has attracted fierce criticism from Western donors and human rights groups since its inception in 2009.
The bill was first introduced in 2009 and initially proposed a death sentence for homosexual acts, but was amended to prescribe jail terms and life for what it called aggravated homosexuality.
According to a BBC report, Obama who once referred to the proposed law as "odious", said his country’s relationship with Uganda would be more complicated if the anti-gay law was approved, describing it as an affront, and a danger to, Uganda's gay community.
The US is one of Uganda's largest foreign aid donors, and in 2011 a small number of American troops were sent to help the Ugandan military fight the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
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