We won't be intimidated by US travel advisory - Uganda says after passing anti-gay law

The Ugandan government says that it is unperturbed by the United States' decision to issue a travel advisory warning its citizens against travelling to the Yoweri Museveni-led nation following the enactment of an Anti-Homosexuality law.

The US Embassy in Uganda, on June 12, issued the advisory citing risks of crime, terrorism and the said anti-LGBTQI+ laws.

Members of the LGBTQI+ community, the embassy said, can be prosecuted and subjected to life imprisonment or death based on provisions in the law.

In a rejoinder on Wednesday, Uganda's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem noted that the Ugandan government will not give in to pressure from the West and will continue prioritising its own interests.  

"The American government has a right to issue advisory notes as they so wish in the interest of its citizens, but whatever they do, we will not be intimidated, we will not be bullied, we will not be suppressed to do anything that is not in the interest of Uganda," Oryem is quoted as saying by the Monitor.

Despite the travel advisory, Oryem added that relations between Kampala and Washington remain cordial.

"We have been talking to them. The President of Uganda met the American ambassador and that is the highest form of engagement. This is not the first time Americans are issuing advisories. Friends disagree but overcome their disagreements and they continue being friends," he said.

Uganda’s anti-gay law, which has been described as among the harshest in the world, stipulates capital punishment for "serial offenders" for transmission of a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex and for having same-sex relations with a person with a disability.

It also decrees a 20-year sentence for "promoting" homosexuality and a life sentence for same-sex intercourse.

Firms including media and non-governmental organisations that knowingly promote LGBTQ activity will also incur harsh fines, per the law.