Uganda welcomes World Bank lifting loan freeze over anti-gay law

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Kampala, Uganda | AFP

Uganda welcomed the World Bank's decision to resume lending that was stopped after it passed an anti-gay law in 2023, saying Thursday the initial ban was "uncalled for".

Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act is one of the most severe in the world with harsh sentences for same-sex relations or "promoting" homosexuality, including the death penalty in some cases.

After President Yoweri Museveni signed it into law in May 2023, the World Bank halted all new loans to Uganda, saying projects it financed had to adhere to its non-discriminatory policies.

But on Wednesday, the World Bank said it was satisfied that a number of "mitigation measures" to reduce discrimination meant it could resume lending to Uganda.

"In the first place, the halt in funding was uncalled for," Uganda's Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi told AFP, adding that it was "good" the World Bank had "reconsidered its decision".

He said the law was "not targeting or discriminating against anyone" and that homosexuality was permitted "in private but not promoting it... for the sanctity of family values".

Since then, "the World Bank worked with the government and other stakeholders in the country to introduce, implement and test measures that prevent discrimination in World Bank-funded projects," a spokesman told AFP.

"We have now determined the mitigation measures rolled out over the last several months in all ongoing projects in Uganda to be satisfactory.

Consequently, the Bank has prepared new projects in sectors with significant development needs," which will be presented to the World Bank's board. All new projects have the mitigations measures embedded in them," he added

"The World Bank cannot deliver on its mission to end poverty and boost shared prosperity on a liveable planet unless all people can participate in, and benefit from, the projects we finance," a World Bank spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.