A Ugandan flag flies above the Pflag during the kickoff for world pride 2014 at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on June 20, 2014.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Canada has ordered the expulsion of Uganda’s top diplomat in Ottawa after she angrily confronted a group of protesters near Parliament Hill and threatened to call the police on them, Ugandan media say.
Ruth Acheng, the Ugandan high commissioner to Canada, will be required to leave the country by Wednesday, according to a Ugandan cabinet minister, Henry Okello Oryem, who was quoted in New Vision, a leading state-owned newspaper.
He said Canada had declared Ms. Acheng persona non grata – effectively requiring her departure – because of “many unresolved issues.” Her shouting match with the Ugandan protesters in Ottawa was the final factor that led to the expulsion, he told New Vision, adding that he was “extremely disappointed” with the Canadian decision.
Canada’s Global Affairs Department did not confirm or deny the report, citing the need to protect “confidential state-to-state communications.”
Global Affairs Canada spokesperson John Babcock, in response to questions from The Globe and Mail, declined to discuss the matter, but said: “A decision to declare a foreign representative ‘persona non grata’ is not one that is taken lightly.”
Ms. Acheng was appointed to her diplomatic post by the government of President Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for more than 38 years after seizing power in a military rebellion. His police and security forces have become notorious for crushing protests and jailing and killing opposition supporters.
Ruth Acheng, the Ugandan High Commissioner to Canada, speaking at an event in an undated photo.Supplied
In a video that went viral on Uganda’s social media, Ms. Acheng is seen furiously shouting at a dozen supporters of a Ugandan opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), on a street in downtown Ottawa, across from Parliament Hill, earlier this month.
At one point in the confrontation, she tells the protesters that she will “send for the police to kick you out of here.”
The protesters respond to her: “Do it. This is not Uganda.”
At another point, the protesters tell Ms. Acheng that opposition activists in Uganda are being abducted – a reference to the disappearance and death of a number of activists.
The high commissioner shouts at them: “The problem is that you abduct yourselves. ... Stop abducting yourselves, stop killing yourselves.”
The protesters respond to this by bursting into laughter.
Ms. Acheng later posted an excerpt from the video on her own social-media account, showing one of her supporters arguing with the protesters, along with a separate video of her marching in the official yellow colours of Uganda’s ruling party. “We are ready for hooligans and liars, Canada is not your place,” she wrote in another post on the same day.
A Ugandan opposition MP, Nkunyingi Muwada, said the NUP welcomed the Canadian decision to expel Ms. Acheng. Speaking to journalists on the weekend, he criticized the high commissioner for “engaging in partisan politics” and causing “diplomatic embarrassment.”
In recent years, the Ugandan government has sparked global criticism by criminalizing homosexuality and approving an anti-gay law that authorizes lengthy prison terms and even the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”
After the law was passed last year, the Canadian government denounced it as “a blatant violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms” of LGBTQ Ugandans. The law could expose gay Ugandans to systematic persecution and violence, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said at the time.
Mr. Babcock, while not commenting directly on the reported expulsion of the Ugandan diplomat, said Canada’s relationship with Uganda remains unchanged.
“We will continue to engage constructively with Uganda on a broad range of issues such as promoting human rights, including the rights of LGBTQI+ Ugandans, democratic governance, supporting refugees in the region, and promoting regional security and stability,” he told The Globe.