Source: Voice of America, News24.com, PinkNews.com
Human rights groups say Monday's arrest of two Spanish men in The Gambia for allegedly making homosexual advances is part of a continuing human rights problem in West Africa.

"We are equally concerned with local Gambians who, as you know, will be facing this kind of repression after the media spotlight is no longer on the Gambia," said Cary Alan Johnson, the Senior Africa Specialist for New-York based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

The Spanish tourists were detained in the coastal resort of Kotu on charges of making "homosexual advances" after two taxi drivers reported them to police. 

related in Qnews: Gambia releases two gay Spaniards accused of soliciting sex (June 5)

South Africa's News24.com reports that the gay organization FAGC says the tourists could be sentenced to as many as 14 years in prison for "violating the principles of Islam."

They have been visited by the Spanish consul to Gambia, who gave them his "full support", said sources of the Foreign Ministry in Madrid, according to News24.com.

PinkNews reports that foreign affairs ministries in both UK and the Netherlands have issued warnings to gay tourists visiting the Gambia.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised gay citizens not to disclose their sexual orientation if they visit the Gambia.

British tourists in the Gambia are being advised that the government there is "actively enforcing" laws against gay people.

A UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spokesperson said that their advice to visitors to the Gambia was updated today.

"Foreign visitors to the Gambia need to carry an ID with them at all times," the FCO guidance reads. It advises tourists that the country's civil code "states that gross indecency between men, whether in public or private, is a felony and anyone committing this felony could face imprisonment" and that any Gambian citizen "has the power of arrest for these offences."

The FCO policy states, "We have received reports that the police are actively enforcing this Code."

Linda Baumann, a Namibia-based spokesperson for the Brussels-based International Lesbian and Gay Association, says the recent threat by Gambia's president, Yahya Jammeh, to behead homosexuals has created a climate of fear.

"As a president, he must realize that there is quite a number of people looking up to him, and once he makes a statement, people follow what he is saying," Baumann told VOA. "And even the fact that he is talking about beheading, who on the grass-root level will not be able to do that if the president himself is threatening to such an extent?"

There is no official gay and lesbian rights movement in The Gambia, says IGLHRC's Johnson, who spoke to VOA from Cape Town, South Africa. His group is concerned about a growing culture of repression against gays in the region.

"Countries like Gambia and Ghana and Nigeria maintain and are even strengthening the laws that are in use to arrest and persecute gays and lesbian people," said Johnson.

Johnson adds that with rising costs of living across the continent, there is an increase in African leaders who use the gay community as a scapegoat.

A former British colony, the the Gambia has been ruled by President Jammeh since a bloodless coup in 1994.

According to the Department for International Development, tourism is the second largest employer and is the main foreign exchange earner in the Gambia.

British companies are heavily promoting the Gambia as a welcoming destination, PinkNews reports.

Full article: Rights Groups Fear for Gays in West Africa | VOA News
Gay tourists 'face' 14 yrs in jail | News24.com
UK updates travel advice for the Gambia | PinkNews.com