The sites, one of which is titled hotugandans.com, came to public attention in July. They displayed explicit pictures and videos, alongside contact addresses in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Japan.

According to various reports, the pages were hosted in Canada, and popular with Ugandans living abroad who used credit cards to pay for access to the material. A public outcry has since led to the websites being blocked - in an ironic twist, visitors to hotugandans.com are now directed to the site of Benny Hinn Ministries. But, the debate about the globalised society that enabled them to emerge rages on.

"When it comes to morality, globalisation is not a good thing because it is making us accept gay practices, pornography and reducing the age of consent for sex," Stephen Langa, executive director of the Family Life Network, said. This non-governmental organisation, located in Kampala, advocates traditional values through counselling and education.

Women featured on the site were apparently paid up to $1,000 to be photographed and filmed - although one claimed that she did so on the understanding that this material would not appear in Uganda.

Since the government gave a tax holiday for the import of computers two years ago, hundreds of Internet cafes have sprung up in even the remotest areas. In Kampala, a five-minute walk can take you past two or three such cafes. Some forbid customers to open pornographic sites and use monitoring devices in a bid to deter access. 

Matters are complicated by the fact that Uganda still lacks a legal definition of pornography - let alone a law banning its consumption. Two years ago, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Pornography proposed that the constitution should be amended to prohibit and eliminate pornography in Uganda.

"One of the justifications we gave was that pornography is harmful to public health and order," Sarah Kiyingi Kyama, chairwoman of the 12-member committee said. However, the proposed amendments were not approved.

Uganda's first tabloid, Red Pepper, which was launched in 2002, also reflects the way in which global trends are making themselves felt in the country. "We realised that much as tabloids were doing well elsewhere in the UK, Netherlands and the US, this was something that was not happening in Africa - especially in developing countries like Uganda," says Arinaitwe Rugyendo, the paper's editor who was one of its founders.

As with the pornographic sites, Red Pepper's mix of nudity and scandal sparked outrage and calls for anti-pornography legislation to be put in place.

"The criticism we received in the beginning was not justified. Certain people interpreted it as pornography, but it was not," Mr Rugyendo said. "All we were doing was exposing what was previously deemed as non-African."

"My take is that we cannot compromise on the question of press freedom, a fundamental human right, because some people are abusing it. It is obvious that the press needs to be responsible and most journalists do take their responsibility seriously," says James Tumusiime, editor of the Weekly Observer - a newspaper in Kampala.

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