Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni accused the World Bank on Wednesday of putting pressure on his country in an attempt to get it to abandon its anti-homosexuality law.
Ugandans "will develop with or without loans," Mr. Museveni on Twitter, renamed X, after the World Bank suspended further lending to Kampala because of an anti-homosexuality law enacted on 29 May by the president.
"It is therefore unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles and sovereignty, using money," President Museveni added. "We do not need pressure from anybody to know how to solve problems in our society."
He added, however, that Uganda would continue to talk with the World Bank "so that both they and we avoid this diversion if possible."
The World Bank had announced on Tuesday that no new public financing for Uganda would be submitted to its board of directors, as the anti-homosexuality law coming into force in the country in 2023 was against its values.
Ugandan Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi said on Wednesday that consultations were still ongoing between the Ugandan government and the World Bank on issues surrounding the anti-homosexuality law but that the World Bank and others should be reminded that Uganda is a sovereign country that takes decisions in the interest of its people.
That is the spirit of the anti-homosexuality law, he added.
The law, considered one of the most repressive in the world, provides for heavy penalties for people who have homosexual relations or "promote" homosexuality. A crime of "aggravated homosexuality" is punishable by death in Uganda, although such a sentence has not been applied for years in the East African country.
Human rights activists have expressed concern about the influence of the new law on access to healthcare for people in the LGBT+ community, who may fear being stigmatised or even denounced by medical staff.
On Tuesday, following the World Bank's announcement, Uganda's Ministry of Health, which receives funding from the institution, issued a circular stating that no one should be "discriminated against or stigmatised" on the grounds of "gender, religion, ethnicity, social or economic status or sexual orientation."
