Sweden resumes financial aid to Uganda
Sweden has resumed financial aid provisions to Uganda after six-month suspension in response to anti-gay law passed in February.
The Swedish embassy in Kampala announced Monday it will provide $200 million (£117.8 million) in development support to Uganda over the next five years. The money is intended to improve Uganda’s health care and embolden the ‘respect of human rights.’
“Sweden wants to help create better conditions in Uganda for sustainable economic growth and development… Sweden continues to support human rights and freedom from violence,” Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation, Hillevi Engstrom, said.
In a statement issued by the foreign ministry in Stockholm last Thursday, Engstrom also said: “I will specifically monitor the situation of women’s rights and LGBT rights. It is important that LGBT people and others do not become scapegoats because of changes in Swedish aid.”
Sweden was among the first countries to suspend financial donations to Uganda after Ugandan President Yoweri Musevent signed the controversial anti-gay bill in February. The World Bank, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands also suspended or redirected financial aid away from Uganda earlier this year.
Uganda’s state-run hospitals depend heavily on international financial aid. Today’s announcement is a huge relief for Ugandan health care.
