Source: News.com.au, BBC News
ECCENTRIC Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has threatened to behead gays unless they leave the country, according to reports.

"The Gambia is a country of believers ... sinful and immoral practices (such) as homosexuality will not be tolerated in this country," the president told a crowd at a political rally on May 15, local journalists said today.

He told the rally that gay people had 24 hours to leave the country.

He promised "stricter laws than Iran" on homosexuality and said he would "cut off the head" of any gay person found in The Gambia.

The anti-gay campaign continued in the Gambian pro-government media this week with the Daily Observer publishing a virulent editorial.

"We have said it before and we will say it again. This is a Muslim and Christian country. Both the Koran and the holy Bible condemn homosexuality - pure and simple," the paper wrote on Monday.

Carey Johnson of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Council said the comments were "disgraceful".

"What president Jammeh fails to realise is that there are a significant population of Gambians who are gay, and he has no right to ask them to leave," Mr Johnson said.

The speech was "doubly disgraceful" because The Gambia is the host country for the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, he said.

Mr Johnson said the speech, part of President Jammeh's 13-day tour of the country, was an attempt to scapegoat gay people and blame them for the country's ills.

"He's fighting to maintain his control over the country, he finds the weakest group and lays all the problems at their door," Mr Johnson said.

British gay rights group Outrage today said the Gambian leader's comments came as no surprise.

"Jammeh has a long history of homophobia," spokesman Peter Tatchell said.

"If he tries to carry out these threats, international aid donors are likely to withdraw their support, and foreign tourists will stay away in droves, thereby damaging the Gambian economy," he added.

Correspondents say a number of homosexual men have fled to The Gambia from neighbouring Senegal after a crackdown there following arrests at a "gay wedding" in February.

Both countries are predominantly Muslim and President Jammeh cultivates an image of being a devout Muslim.

In February last year, he was condemned by campaigners when he claimed to have cured people of HIV and Aids.

His "cure" was a mixture of herbs that patients ate and spread on their bodies.

Full article: Gambia President Yahya Jammeh threatens to behead gays | NEWS.com.au
Gambia gay death threat condemned | BBC News