US sanctions Uganda’s parliament speaker and others over corruption and rights abuses

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA
Associated Press

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The United States has imposed sanctions on Uganda’s parliament speaker and other officials over alleged corruption and serious abuses of human rights. The U.S. State Department says Uganda’s Parliament Speaker Anita Among is among those sanctioned on Thursday “due to involvement in significant corruption tied to her leadership” of the national assembly. Others include Lt. Gen. Peter Elwelu, a former deputy chief of Uganda’s military, for “extrajudicial killings” committed by government troops, as well as three former government ministers who most recently were implicated in the theft of roofing sheets that were not distributed to members of an impoverished community in the country’s north-eastern region.