Sweden has resumed financial aid to Uganda despite the country’s continued persecution of LGBTs.

Sweden suspended aid donations to the country in March, following the signing into law of the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act by President Yoweri Museveni (pictured above).

The Act, introduced in February of this year, further criminalises LGBTs by imposing life sentences on those found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” and includes a provision for the extradition of those found guilty of committing same-sex relations abroad. Organisations and individuals who ‘promote’ LGBT rights also face fines and often jail time.

The Swedish embassy in Kampala said it would provide 1.35 billion Kronor ($198 million) over the next five years to improve child and maternal health, sustainable growth and employment in the east African country, reports Reuters.

“Sweden wants to help create better conditions in Uganda for sustainable economic growth and development,” Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation, Hillevi Engstrom, said.

“It is important that LGBT people and others do not become scapegoats because of changes in Swedish aid.”

The resumption of aid follows claims by Ugandan lawmakers that International aid donors had misinterpreted the law, which it said had been intended to prevent promotion of gay sex to children, not to punish homosexuals.