Ugandan police say confession by Enock Nsubuga proves killing was not
related to David Kato's anti-homophobia campaigning
Xan Rice in Nairobi
Friday February 4 2011
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/03/david-kato-murder-uganda-gay-rights
Police in Uganda have arrested a man over the murder of the activist
David Kato, saying the killing was not related to his campaign for gay
rights.
Enock Nsubuga was arrested yesterday in Mukono, outside Kampala, not
far from where Kato was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in his home
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/uganda-gay-rights-
activist-murder" title="Kato was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in
his home] last week. A police spokesman said Nsubuga's confession
proved the killing was unrelated to Kato's work as a campaigner in
Uganda, where homophobia is widespread.
"It wasn't a robbery and it wasn't because Kato was an activist,"
police spokesman Vincent Ssetake told Reuters. "It was a personal
disagreement but I can't say more than that."
Police initially claimed the motive was theft ? a hasty conclusion
that left many of Kato's friends and colleagues suspicious of a cover-
up. Following the news of Nsubuga's arrest one gay activist in
Kampala, who asked not be named, said he was sceptical about the
latest police claim.
The murder attracted condemnation around with world, with Barack Obama
and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, among those who have
called for a thorough and impartial police investigation.
Kato was one of the few openly gay men in Uganda, and one of the
fiercest critics of the anti-homosexuality bill currently before
parliament. Inspired by local evangelical preachers, the legislation
proposes locking up gay peoplefor life, with repeat offenders
sentenced to death.
Since it was tabled in 2009, some local church leaders and influential
politicians, including President Yoweri Museveni, have further stoked
public anger against homosexuals by alleging that gay people were
trying to "recruit" children in schools.
Kato, 46, who had campaigned for gay rights longer than anyone else in
Uganda, was a clear target of that animosity.
In October last year his photograph appeared on the front page of the
tabloid Rolling Stone [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/21/
ugandan-paper-gay-people-hanged" title="photograph appeared on the
front page of the tabloid Rolling Stone], under the sub-headline "Hang
Them". Dozens of other gay people were also identified, with several
of them reporting subsequent harassment.
In early January, Kato and two fellow activists from Sexual Minorities
Uganda, where he worked, obtained a permanent injunction stopping the
newspaper identifying any more gay people. They also won modest
damages. Kato told friends he had received threats since the verdict.
Following Kato's murder, police arrested a man they described as his
driver, but said that Nsubuga was the main suspect. He was reportedly
living and working as a domestic labourer in Kato's home after being
released from prison.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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