From Agence France-Presse via Yahoo News: (http://news.yahoo.com/...)
"Police today busted Walter Reed Project for training youths in homosexuality," Ugandan government spokesman, Ofwono Opondo told AFP on Friday.
The widely condemned anti-gay law, under which this organization was raided, allows for jail for life for "repeat homosexuals," prevents the spread of homosexual "propaganda," and the "recruitment" of youth into homosexuality. It was the suspicion of such recruitment that lead to the raid.
More on this homosexual recruitin' organization below the orange swirl.
The Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) is a non-profit partnership between Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and the United States Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) based at The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) in Silver Spring, Maryland. WRAIR is the largest biomedical research facility administered by the Department of Defense.
The mission of MUWRP is to conduct HIV research, treatment, and prevention programs in Uganda. The MHRP has been conducting research in Uganda since 1998 after congress funded the formation of the U.S. Army-led HIV/AIDS research unit in 1986. In 2005, with the start of PEPFAR funding (The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), MUWRP expanded into treatment and prevention programs.
From the MUWRP, an example of the work they do:
Since 2005, MUWRP has increased its PEPFAR support to the Kayunga and Mukono Districts by supporting cross-cutting HIV programs including:
Expanding the number of HIV clinical sites
Providing efficient laboratory capacity
Infrastructure remodeling
District-level data system strengthening
Supply-chain management strengthening
Human capacity development
Innovative task shifting
Youth-focused programs
Short-term technical staffing
Comprehensive home-based OVC services
A variety of counseling and testing and prevention programs including medical male circumcision and house-to-house testing
Due to an expanded mandate, MUWRP/MHRP now conducts research into other communicable diseases that affect public health in Uganda. Now all of this important work has been halted.
From MUWRP's website:
TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF ACTIVITIES
On Thursday, April 3, 2014, a Ugandan citizen employed at the Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) was taken into custody by police at the project’s offices in Kampala. The individual was released without charge the same day. We are working with police to understand the circumstances under which this person was detained. Until we have greater clarity as to the legal basis for the police action, the operations of the program are temporarily suspended to ensure the safety of staff and the integrity of the program. We are working directly with the patients of MUWRP to ensure there is no interruption in their care. Press inquiries should be directed to the U.S. Mission to Uganda’s Public Affairs sections.
All due to the anti-gay paranoia that has swept Uganda,
aided and abetted by America's own right wing religious nuts. Ironically, it was evangelical hero
George W. Bush
who started PEPFAR when he committed to combatting HIV/AIDS in Africa. In fact, PEPFAR funds went to evangelical organizations working in Uganda, including a group,
Uganda Youth Forum, that is led by Uganda's first lady, Janet Museveni. Her husband, Ugandan President Yoweri Musevini signed the "Jail the Gay" bill into law last December. A law that now, apparently, will shut down a highly successful program to help victims of HIV/AIDS in Uganda.