Ugandan named to head U.N. assembly faces criticism on human rights

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-united-nations-uganda-sam-kutesa-20140609-story.html



Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa, who is to assume the U.N. General Assembly presidency Wednesday, is under fire by rights activists for alleged corruption and for backing the country's harsh anti-gay law. Above, Kutesa shown in 2007.

Ugandan named to head U.N. assembly faces criticism on human rights
Carol J. Williams
June 9, 2014

Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa, who is set to take over the presidency of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, has a decades-long legacy of corruption, military aggression and human-rights abuses, according to opponents of his selection as ceremonial head of the world body.

The 65-year-old career politician and longtime ally of Uganda's controversial president, Yoweri Museveni, was unanimously chosen by the African Union last month to fill the rotating U.N. presidency during the continent's yearlong term at the helm.



Activists demonstrate outside the U.S. Embassy in Uganda on Monday against the selection of Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa as U.N. General Assembly president.

There will be no vote at the U.N. before the mantle passes to Kutesa. But his selection has stirred an 11th-hour campaign to prevent him from taking office and presiding over General Assembly sessions, including the annual meeting of all 193 member states in September, when President Obama and other world leaders address the gathering.

Milton Allimadi, a Ugandan journalist based in New York and editor of the Black Star News website, has been circulating an online petition appealing to the U.S. State Department to revoke Kutesa's visa so he cannot attend Wednesday's administrative session, where he is to assume his presidential duties.