Mugabe backs Uganda’s anti-gay law

Robert Mugabe has thrown his weight behind Uganda’s draconian anti-gay laws and hinted at a crackdown on gays in his own country, state media reported on Monday.
He castigated the West for punishing Kampala with aid cuts after President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a bill that banned homosexuality in the East African country.
"They (the West) want to tell us ... that it’s a violation of human rights, that is what they are doing to Museveni right now," Mr Mugabe said.
"The human right you have as a man is to marry another woman, not to get another man to marry, we refuse that," he said at a weekend wedding reception of his only daughter Bona.
Mr Mugabe has previously said homosexuality is un-African and described gays and lesbians as worse than pigs and dogs.
"It’s a terrible world we are in, a terrible world where people want to do things that they feel will enhance their own interests," he said.
The president also said that until recently he had not been aware of the existence of an association of gay and lesbian people in Zimbabwe, and warned he would want to know who belonged to the group.
"I understand we have a group of homosexuals in this country," he said. "I didn’t know until I was told the day before yesterday. So we want to check on who is in that group."
The group, which calls itself Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, has long operated in the country despite Mr Mugabe’s ranting against homosexuality. Police have on several occasions raided the group’s offices, and prosecutors had laid charges against it, accusing it of operating as an unregistered organisation. However, a magistrate dismissed the case last week.
Same-sex marriages outlawed in Zimbabwe.
In Uganda, the World Bank last week stalled a $90m loan planned to help the country strengthen its healthcare system. The bank’s move followed action by Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway to freeze or change aid programmes for Uganda, and blunt criticism from the US and Sweden.
Mr Museveni signed a bill into law that holds that "repeat homosexuals" should be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and requires people to report on homosexuals.
AFP