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Uganda arrests gay protesters at AIDS meeting
04 June 2008-
Kampala, Ugandan police arrested three gay rights demonstrators who stormed a
major AIDS conference in Kampala on Wednesday in protest at the government's
stance on homosexuality, which is banned in the east African nation.
Uganda's government
said this week it would not focus any HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
programmes on homosexuals because it is short of funds.
"Two young women and a
man stormed the conference venue uninvited and we had to arrest them," senior
police commander Byakagaba Abas told Reuters at the meeting in Kampala.
The HIV/AIDS conference
in the capital was organised by the United Nations, United States, the World
Bank and others.
Ugandan courts can
punish homosexual acts with life in prison, and even "attempted" homosexuality
can draw a jail term of seven years. Most homosexuals hide their preferences,
but local activists estimate the gay community at 500,000.
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