World Briefs
Ugandan police arrest two women for allegedly kissing in public
KAMPALA, Uganda - Ugandan police detained two women who were reported by their neighbors to be engaging in same-sex activities, a police spokesperson said on Thursday, one of the first known instances of arrests under an anti-LGBTQ+ law enacted in 2023.
The women were arrested in the northwestern city of Arua on Feb. 18 after police were notified they were often seen kissing. When officers arrived, they caught the couple "red-handed on the cement floor," said spokesperson Josephine Angucia.
The women were later freed on police bond and have yet to be charged as the investigations are continuing, she said.
The controversial Anti-Homosexuality Act was supported by many in Uganda but widely condemned by rights activists and others abroad. Its promoters said it was necessary to protect children.
While the legislation does not criminalize identifying as LGBTQ+, it mandates the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality," which is defined as cases of sexual relations involving people infected with HIV, as well as with minors and other categories of vulnerable people.
The detention of the women in Arua "underscores the grim reality we are facing on the ground under the Anti-Homosexuality Act," said Frank Mugisha, a prominent LGBTQ+ leader in Uganda. "We have seen a surge in a targeted crackdown that goes beyond just arrests; it has fueled a dangerous cycle of blackmail and extortion."
Same-sex activity is separately criminalized in the East African country under a colonial-era law that punishes relations against "the order of nature."
Homosexuality is criminalized in many of Africa's 54 countries. The West African nation of Senegal is currently trying to impose tougher penalties for same-sex activity.
Senegal introduces legislation to boost minimum sentence for homosexuality to 5 years
By Babacar Dione, Associated Press
DAKAR, Senegal - Senegal 's Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko introduced legislation in parliament Tuesday that would toughen the prison term for homosexuality in the West African nation to at least five years from the current minimum of one year.
The bill also seeks to broaden the scope of what is defined as "unnatural acts" under the law that has criminalized homosexuality in the conservative country since its independence from France in 1960. But the legislation would not elevate the crime from the current level as a misdemeanor.
"We can achieve the intended objectives without going so far as to elevate the acts" to the level of more serious crimes, Sonko said.
Human rights groups in Senegal say the situation for gay people in the country has been deteriorating since 2018, and that at least a dozen people have been arrested in recent weeks over allegations of homosexuality.
The legislation fulfills one of Sonko's campaign promises and now needs to be passed in the National Assembly, where Sonko's PASTEF party is in control.
Netherlands' coalition government takes office led by youngest-ever premier Rob Jetten
By Mike Corder, Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A new minority Dutch coalition government took office Monday led by Rob Jetten, the Netherlands' youngest-ever prime minister who will have to use all his bridge-building skills to pass laws and see out a full four-year term in office.
Jetten, 38, heads a three-party administration made up of his centrist D66, the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy.
Jetten, who is the Netherlands' first openly gay premier, said in a post on X it was "an enormous honor to be able to get to work as prime minister."
The coalition parties together hold only 66 of the lower house of parliament's 150 seats, so Jetten will have to negotiate with opposition lawmakers to find support for every piece of legislation his government wants to pass. The largest opposition bloc, the newly merged Green Left and Labor Party, has already signaled it will push for changes to some of Jetten's plans.
Jetten and his team of ministers took their oath of office in the presence of King Willem-Alexander in the ornate Orange Hall of the royal palace in a forest on the edge of The Hague. The king wished the new government good luck "in uncertain times."
A small group of demonstrators from the Extinction Rebellion environmental group protested outside the gates of the palace during the ceremony and sounded sirens as the new ministers lined up for a formal photo.
Following the traditional photo of the new Cabinet on the steps of the palace, the new government ministers held their first meeting.
The Netherlands' main LGBTQI+ organization, COC, welcomed Jetten's appointment.
"The new premier can be a role model for people from the rainbow community," it said in a statement. "It shows that your sexual orientation doesn't have to matter. That you can become a construction worker, a doctor, a lawyer, and even prime minister."
The government was sworn in 117 days after national elections that Jetten's party won by a narrow margin over the Party for Freedom led by anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders. The final result was decided only after a count of postal ballots after the fourth national election since 2017 in the politically splintered Netherlands.
The new government took office a day before the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Jetten has pledged to continue his country's strong support for Kyiv as it battles the forces of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also said he will continue spending to strengthen the Dutch military in times of geopolitical uncertainty.
Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, the new defense minister, will be in charge of overseeing that goal and she underscored its importance in her first message on social media after taking up her post.
"Our own security is at stake, and we must not be naive about that," she posted on X. "If we want freedom to prevail and our way of life to endure, then the Netherlands and Europe must take matters into their own hands."