A clearer example of hate speech would be hard to find, writes Chandre Gould, a senior researcher, at the crime and justice programme of the Institute for Security Studies. 'The authors of the report hide behind the worn, thin mantle of tradition and culture to justify their hatred of difference. They claim that homosexuality is "unAfrican" and goes against African tradition. This claim is nonsensical not only because homosexuality is the subject of just as much vitriol and hatred in the Western world as it is in Africa; but also because sexual orientation is not culturally determined.'

A group of civil society organisations have called on the Ugandan government to take all appropriate measures to ensure the full respect of fundamental human rights and adequate protection from violence for people suffering discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Oil has not even started flowing but, already, it is causing conflict in Bunyoro, western Uganda where land disputes have erupted. The two billion barrels of oil discovered in the Lake Albert area have drawn speculators hoping to cash in on rising land values in the area and sparked conflicts in many villages, particularly in the district of Buliisa.

As Yoweri M7, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni launches a hip hop appeal to the Ugandan electorate…

Women in Uganda’s rural areas will learn about domestic violence against women through the use of different ICT tools to build awareness around the issue, but they will also learn to report and prevent it - and the mobile phone will be playing a big part in their campaigns - from frontline SMS, to around-the-clock hotlines. Other tools being used include web 2.0 and online publishing tools, as well as radio.

President Museveni has promised free university education for all science students from northern Uganda. Addressing a campaign rally at Akura in Alebtong on Sunday, Mr Museveni said the programme will include all students who are not on government sponsorship. Education ministry officials, many of whom admitted to being taken by surprise by the President’s campaign promise, were unable to offer any details on how the programme would be funded, how much it would cost, and what services would be sacrificed to fund the free A-level programme. Education is a key campaign plank for the ruling NRM party.

Elders in Bukwo and Kapchorwa districts are preparing to circumcise over 200 girls next month despite a new law banning the practice. The practice, commonly referred to as female circumcision, is mostly practiced among the Sabiny, who occupy Bukwo and Kapchorwa districts on the northern slopes of Mt Elgon. The United Nations categorises it as female genital mutilation (FGM) because it damages a woman’s sexuality and leads to various complications. FGM refers to the removal of the external female genitalia.

Amnesty International says it is concerned that the government of Uganda has failed to date to ensure thorough, prompt and independent investigations into frequent reports of human rights violations, including possible unlawful killings, by the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF), in the Karamoja region thereby ensuring impunity for the perpetrators. The alleged violations have been committed in the course of an ongoing disarmament process in the area.

A three-year project to increase forest cover and help local communities in eastern Uganda adapt to climate change has been launched. 'The planting of one million trees has started to sustain an area of tropical forest in Africa the size of Wales,' said John Griffiths, counsel-general of the Welsh Assembly, which is supporting the project. 'These trees will not only absorb carbon but provide shade for crops.'

A judge has temporarily ordered a tabloid in Uganda to stop publishing lists identifying people it claims are gay after an advocacy organisation filed a lawsuit. The order came a day after Rolling Stone - which has no relation to the iconic US music magazine - published a list of people it said were gay, urging readers to report them to police. Last month the tabloid published names, photos and address of 100 people that it called the country’s top gays and lesbians, alongside a yellow banner reading, 'hang them'.

President Yoweri Museveni kicked off his election campaign in Luwero district, where he asked residents not to vote for the opposition because it cannot solve Uganda’s problems. Addressing rallies in Bamunanika, Luwero town and Wobulenzi, Museveni said it was only the Movement government that had a track record of solving the country’s problems.

Activists have started mobilising communities to demand the implementation of environmental laws following the government’s alleged reluctance to halt the degradation of the eco-system. Environmentalists said since 1992, the government had formulated many environmental laws and agencies to protect natural resources but it has failed to enforce the laws. 'Since the government has failed to honour its commitments, we have chosen to empower communities to have the right and ability to influence decisions about the environment and national resources that sustain their livelihood,' said Godber Tumushabe, the executive director for Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment.

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a Geneva-based international housing rights watchdog, has released a 'report card' examining Uganda’s national land policy and land reform processes and their impact on women. The report, 'The Impact of National Land Policy and Land Reform on Women in Uganda', was released together with the Women's Land Link Africa (WLLA), a joint initiative of organisations dedicated to improving women's land and housing rights in Africa. One of the main findings of the study was that while there have been many advances in land reform in Uganda that grant women legal rights, custom and practice are still lagging behind the law, leading to a regular violation of women’s land rights.

Uganda has had several cases of murder following HIV-positive diagnoses, including a man in the southwestern district of Rukungiri murdering his wife in 2008, the lynching of a woman in Gulu suspected of infecting a man and, in September, a 20-year-old woman in the eastern district of Soroti being sentenced to death for killing her soldier husband after she tested positive and he was negative.

In recent years, primary school enrollment has increased across East Africa, but are our children really learning? Uwezo aims to answer that question by assessing the basic math and reading skills of more than a quarter million children in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Uwezo Uganda has released the first ever large scale citizen led national assessment of learning. A total of 1,620 volunteers visited 16,200 households in 27 districts. The results show that 15 per cent of children sampled in P7 could not solve class two level numeracy tasks. There was considerable regional and district variation in the competency level of the children.

Officials have called on residents of Masindi to take their children to school. This followed a survey that revealed that about 850 pupils of school going age in the remote village of Nyalyanika II are not accessing education. The area councilor, Ms Gladys Matwarwa, said residents had shunned the government’s universal primary and secondary education.

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni was nominated today to run for presidential elections that may extend his rule for over 30 years. Mr Museveni is a flag bearer of the National Resistance Movement, the ruling party. Museveni, in power since 1986, is being challenged by Forum for Democratic Change’s Dr Kizza Besigye, his former physician and long time rival.

On 14 October 2009 the draft Anti Homosexuality Bill was introduced to the Parliament of Uganda by Ndoorwa West MP David Bahati. Bahati’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill stipulates the death penalty for repeated same-sex relations and life imprisonment for all other homosexual acts. A person in authority who fails to report an offender to the police within 24 hours will face three years in jail. Likewise, the promotion of homosexuality carries a sentence of five to seven years in jail.

The Ugandan Rolling Stone tabloid has published an article entitled ‘100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak’ calling for the ‘hanging of homos’ in Uganda in its issue of 2 to 9 October, 2010, Vol.1, No. 5. The article shows pictures of some of the 100 alleged homosexuals and other human rights activists, alongside their names and a description of their professional jobs and private life, including where they live or work. The article also calls on the government of Uganda to take strong action against them.

A majority of pupils are unable to read let alone deal with figures while those in private institutions are performing better than their colleagues in government-aided schools, a new report says. The document, dubbed 'Uwezo 2010 Assessment Learning Report', says despite government input in the education sector, children are still struggling to acquire basic literacy and numeracy competencies.