Kampala — CHURCH Of Uganda (COU) bishops yesterday warned that they would sever relations with any Anglican diocese, which condones homosexuality.

In a strongly-worded letter to the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Rowan Williams, the clerics said they had broken ties with the dioceses of Oxford in Britain and New Westminster in Canada.

"The Church of Uganda shall not be in communion with these two dioceses or any other diocese that contravenes the Lambeth Conference resolutions on human sexuality," the letter read in part.

The Lambeth Conference is held once every 10 years in Britain. It brings together Anglican bishops from all over the world.

During the last Lambeth Conference in 1998, the bishops rejected homosexuality as incompatible with the scripture.

They referred to the blessing in church of last month's gay "marriage' between Michael Kalmuck and Kelly Montfort in New Westminster Anglican Church of Canada and the appointment of a reportedly practicing homosexual, the Rev. Canon Geoffrey John, as new bishop of Reading, England.

The Rev. Margaret Marquartd officiated at the marriage authorised by Rev Michael Ingham.

The two-page letter also asked Rowan to halt Geoffrey John's consecration.

It was signed by the outgoing archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyooyo.