Police in Uganda should urgently and impartially investigate the killing of the prominent human rights activist David Kato, Human Rights Watch has said. Kato had dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender persons (LGBT) in Uganda, facing threats and risks to his personal safety. The government should ensure that members of Uganda's LGBT community have adequate protection from violence and take prompt action against all threats or hate speech likely to incite violence, discrimination, or hostility toward them, Human Rights Watch said.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday called on President Jacob Zuma to remove controversial former columnist Jon Qwelane as South Africa's ambassador to Uganda. Qwelane had in the past 'launched many verbal assaults on gay and lesbian people', stating publicly that he 'would have disowned his own children if they were gay'.

Ugandan lesbian Brenda Namigadde has been granted a temporary last-minute reprieve, and will not be deported back to Uganda from the United Kingdom. Word came down from the High Court judge as Namigadde was being escorted to the airport this evening. Visit to send an email, tweet or Facebook post in support of Namigadde,

South African organisation Health4Men has called on Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to publicly denounce the violent murder of the gay rights activist David Kato. Kato, an outspoken member of Sexual Minorities Uganda who spoke out against prejudice, intimidation and violence against men who have sex with men, was beaten to death on Wednesday.

Following the brutal murder of acivist David Kato, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) and the entire Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community stand together to condemn the killing and call for the Ugandan government, civil society and local communities to protect sexual minorities across Uganda.

Ugandan gay rights activists have dared Rolling Stone Editor Guiles Muhame to continue outing gays and lesbians in that country, warning that he may be up for a surprise that could end his career or land him in jail. This after Muhame vowed to continue publishing articles outing Ugandan homosexuals despite a recent court ruling that permanently barred the newspaper from publishing such articles and even instructing the Rolling Stone to pay three plaintiffs damages of over 1.5 million Ugandan Shillings.

Uganda has approved the setting up of an international university that will partner with institutions from around the world to deliver accredited courses and degree programmes to students in Uganda and other East African countries as well as Southern Sudan and Nigeria. The five member countries of the East African Community, EAC, are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s state visit to South Africa shows that he is already looking ahead to next month’s national election, which he is expected to win comfortably. With Uganda’s first oil exports expected to start flowing next year, as well as a growing service sector and significant agricultural potential, opportunities for economic cooperation between South Africa and Uganda is likely to dominate discussions during the two day state visit, says the South African Institute of International Affairs.

The dirty downside of the ICT industry is that computers have to go somewhere when they die and because they are full of potentially toxic materials they cannot simply be dumped in landfills. Uganda’s Government has sought to tackle part of the problem by banning the import of secondhand computers and sparked the law of unintended consequences. Russell Southwood talked to Shakeel Padamsey of Camara and Kyle Spencer of the Uganda Linux Group about what’s happened.

Some Muslim women in western Uganda are demanding that a new HIV prevention programme for Muslims include condom promotion, going against calls by local religious leaders for the programme to be limited to messages on faithfulness and abstinence. 'The holy Koran allows Muslim men to marry four wives, but men still go out of wedlock and have extra-marital relationships,' Jazira Mugisa told IRIN/PlusNews.

In February, Ugandans will be going to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections. It is an interesting time for a changing of the guard in Parliament, as Uganda will soon be the latest oil-producing country on the continent. Already there are concerns over a lack of transparency and government accountability related to oil agreements and revenues. This article from the South African Institute of International Affairs asks what role is Parliament expected to play in holding the Executive to account and ensuring greater transparency in the oil sector?

In what is being hailed as a victory by human rights activists, a Ugandan court has issued an interim order restraining the editors of the Rolling Stone tabloid from any further publication of information about anyone alleged to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

Makerere University is considering altering its government sponsorship admission criteria to ensure that reasonable numbers of both girls and boys are admitted to each course. The new measures are expected to be in place before Makerere’s admissions in August. They may impose an admission ratio of 60:40 for government sponsorship in humanities (arts) and a 70:30 ratio for science courses, in favour of the less-represented sex in each academic discipline.

The Uganda government is seeking $1 million under a supplementary budget request to parliament to facilitate a meeting with Congolese officials and lawyers – whose country accuses Uganda of war crimes and plunder of its resources. The meeting is slated for later this month in Kampala. DR Congo accuses Uganda of war crimes and plundering its resources when the latter, together with a bevy of regional countries, invaded it between 1998 and 2003. In 1999, Congo took Uganda to the World Court - seeking reparations of between of $6b and $10b - which the court said was a fair claim. The UN court sitting at The Hague, however, gave the countries an option of settling the matter between themselves.

Ugandan President Museveni fears that Prime Minister Raila Odinga has thrown his weight behind his opponents. A leaked cable from the US embassy in Kampala says the Museveni government suspected Mr Odinga was working with the opposition because Mr Museveni supported President Kibaki during the election dispute in 2007/8. The Orange Democratic Movement party, which Mr Odinga leads, accused Uganda of sending soldiers to help quell anti-government protests in parts of Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces in January 2008.

Beatrice Namuzibira’s class of 90 pupils is not even considered a large one, compared to classes in other schools. Universal primary education has filled classrooms beyond capacity across Uganda, putting a strain on teachers. But her teaching - and her home life - have received fresh inspiration, thanks to innovative online modules for teachers offered by the Teacher Education for Sub-Saharan Africa project (TESSA), a network created to support effective teaching in every subject area.

NGOs, under the Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), have launched a short messaging service (SMS) platform to receive complaints regarding the ongoing elections. Godwin Byaruhanga, an official from CCEDU, says the campaign will involve appealing to the public to vote candidates basing on their ability to address social issues and not those who give them freebies.

Security of two suspected gay persons arrested and released from Makerere and Wandegeya police posts in Uganda is a major concern since Mitchell Hall Gradens’ residents, where they were arrested, believe lynching would be the perfect solution to stop their alleged homosexuality. Eye witnesses claim that the two were found engaging in ‘homosexual activities’ at around 10pm on Wednesday 8 December. 'The person who found them, known only as Tamale, called other hall residents and they arrested the two. The mob wanted to lynch them but the Hall security intervened and the two were taken to police,' Adrian Jjuuko of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum Uganda (HRAPF) stated.

Studies carried out in the north of Uganda point towards a strong correlation between food insecurity and incidences of violence. Unable to feed their families, men often turn to risky coping behaviours like alcohol or drug abuse, while women may resort to sex in exchange for food and other goods. Disagreements on how to manage limited household food supplies frequently escalate into violence as well. The Food and Agriculture Organisation's Farmer Field and Life Schools initiative aims to help address the root causes of gender-based violence.

Some cried. Some were confused. They looked on in disbelief as a local female surgeon tried in vain thrice, probably using a very blunt knife, to cut off a girl’s clitoris. Once cut, the girl was pushed aside. Then seven other girls were circumcised. The eight are part of over 120 girls who have been mutilated in Sebei region since the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) season kicked off in Sebei in eastern Uganda. The government passed a law prohibiting FGM in December 2009 but nobody in the FGM areas seems to care.