Ugandan Inspector General Chief Of Police Calls For Country To Stop “Engaging In Extremist” Anti-Gay Campaigns; Maintains That David Kato Killing Was Not Hate Crime

From the Daily Monitor, in the wake of the killing of gay rights activist David Kato, a report that the Uganda Inspector General of Police, Major General Kale Kayihura, cautioned the public and anti-gay homosexual religious leaders against being “insensitive” to the gay community in the country. General Kayihura, who stopped short of openly condemning anti-gay campaigns, said that people, in particular priests, should stop the campaign which he described are irresponsible. “You must be sensitive. You should stop engaging in extremist campaigns that can be interpreted differently,” he said Thursday. Information and National Guidance Minister Kabakumba Masiko took a different stance, dismissing international condemnation of the government who suspect that David Kato was killed because of his sexual orientation. “It (killing) was an act of thuggery not that it was organised because of what he was. Much as homosexuality is prohibited by the Constitution, his death was a (private) mission gone bad,” the minister said. “The government is doing whatever it takes to ensure that those who killed Kato are brought to book.” Last year, the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone published a photograph of Kato, along with a number of purported homosexuals and the headline “Hang Them.” Kato and two others named in the tabloid successfully sued Rolling Stone; a court ruled that the publication could not continue publishing reports of people it said were homosexual, arguing that it contravened their right to privacy. Several activists said that they were subject to attacks after their photographs were published, but, according to a report by AFP, the police reject the suggestion Kato was killed because of anti-gay sentiment, Kayihura saying that 22 year old Enoch Sydney Nsubuga (portrayed by the media as a male prostitute) had confessed and that there is nothing concrete to suggest” the murder was “a hate crime.” Kayihura added that “According to the suspect ... he negotiated with the deceased to be paid money as he being used as a sexual partner, but that promise was never fulfilled” so Nsubuga “picked a hammer from the bathroom and hit (Kato) on the head, and robbed him. Kayihura also said that although homosexual sex remains illegal in Uganda, the investigation of such cases is not a police priority. “At this moment,” he said, “there are bigger crime categories that we are focusing on.”