* Clinton calls Uganda gay rights advocates "an inspiration"
* Drones may one day be used to hunt Joseph Kony
* Clinton suggests longtime Uganda leader look to his legacy
(Recasts, adds detail)
KAMPALA, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton on Friday praised activists who opposed a tough draft
law in Uganda targeting gays and lesbians, calling them an
inspiration for others struggling to secure equal rights around
the world.
Clinton presented a coalition of Ugandan rights groups with
the State Department's 2011 Human Rights Defender Award, a
signal to African and Islamic nations that Washington will not
backtrack in its fight against the legal and political
persecution of homosexuals.
"It is critical for all Ugandans - the government and
citizens alike - to speak out against discrimination,
harassment, and intimidation of anyone. That's true no matter
where they come from, what they believe, or whom they love,"
Clinton said.
Clinton said she raised the issue in talks on Friday with
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, whose government has been
accused of allowing political and religious leaders to drum up
anti-gay feeling in the deeply conservative East African nation.
"You are a model for others and an inspiration for the
world," Clinton said to representatives of the group, formed in
2009 to combat draft legislation which proposed the death
penalty for anyone convicted of "aggravated homosexuality".
The bill, which spurred a global outcry, stalled in
parliament but has been reintroduced in a watered down form by a
member of Museveni's party.
The new version dropped the death sentence, but would still
outlaw the "promotion" of gay rights and punish anyone who
"funds, sponsors or abets homosexuality".
Clinton's strong expression of support for Uganda's
beleaguered gay community came as she continued a seven-nation
trip across Africa.
She began Friday with a visit to South Sudan, Africa's
newest nation, where she urged the new government in Juba to
make a deal with their old rulers in Khartoum to resolve a
dispute over oil revenues which has driven both countries to
economic crisis..
On Saturday, she will continue on to Kenya, before heading
south to Malawi and South Africa.
COULD DRONES HUNT KONY?
In Uganda, Clinton visited a military base where Ugandan and
U.S. soldiers showed her the U.S.-made "drone" aircraft now
patrolling the skies over Somalia, where an African Union force
is seeking to crush al Shabaab Islamist insurgents.
Uganda, a strong U.S. security partner, has contributed the
bulk of the Somalia force and Clinton said she foresaw a day
when drones might help the United States and Uganda with another
of their joint military efforts - the hunt for renegade Ugandan
warlord Joseph Kony.
"Now we have to figure out how to look through thick
vegetation to find Joseph Kony," Clinton said, after inspecting
a drone, a small unmanned aircraft no more than a metre (yard)
long and mounted with cameras.
The United States last year dispatched about 100 military
advisers to help Uganda and other central African nations track
down Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army has been charged with
repeated atrocities against civilians.
But Kony is at large in a vast and often heavily-forested
part of Africa, making finding him difficult.
U.S. officials stressed that Clinton's visit to Uganda was
aimed at thanking it for its strong security assistance in
Somalia and elsewhere.
But the visit highlighted lingering tensions between
Washington and Museveni, accused by critics of increasingly
authoritarian policies and of bending the constitution to
prolong his rule.
Before her meeting with the Ugandan leader, Clinton
indicated that she would gently press him to think about a day
when he might leave the political stage.
"It is important for leaders to make judgments about how
they can best support the institutionalisation of democracy,"
Clinton told reporters. "It's not about strong men, it's about
strong institutions."
(Writing by Andrew Quinn and James Macharia; Editing by Andrew
Osborn)