Uganda police raid HIV project for 'homosexuality training'

Uganda police raided a US-funded HIV project for "training youthsin homosexuality", the government said, weeks after the president signed a widelycriticised anti-homosexuality law.The Walter Reed Project, which provides treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS,said it had suspended its operations after one of its staff was briefly detained in theraid on Thursday.It appeared to be the first such move since Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni inFebruary signed a bill that calls for "repeat homosexuals" to be jailed for life andrequires people to report gays.The bill drew international condemnation, with US Secretary of State John Kerrylikening it to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi Germany."Police today busted Walter Reed Project for training youths in homosexuality," Ugandan government spokesman, Ofwono Opondo told AFP on Friday.Police said they had arrested and briefly detained one individual at the Walter Reedpremises in Kampala, but denied a raid had taken place."We had for some time being following up on one person who had a regularpresence at the premises and was engaged in suspicious activities with other peopleinvolving recruitment and training of youths into homosexuality," Kampala policespokesman, Ibn Senkumbi told AFP.The Walter Reed Project receives US funding and has expanded to treat othercommunicable diseases.A message posted on its website said it had suspended its activities after an employee was briefly detained."Until we have greater clarity as to the legal basis for the police action, theoperations of the program are temporarily suspended," it said.An AFP journalist in the Ugandan capital said police were again deployed at WalterReed on Friday night.