Gambia will not back down on anti-gay law

Gambia has said that it will not discuss a new law against homosexuality with donor nations that have urged the West African country to revoke it.

“No country or power will dictate to us what we should do in our country because that country or power gives aid to us,” Foreign Minister Bala Garba Jahumpa said in a statement read on state television on November 29.

In October this year, Gambian president Yahya Jammeh, signed legislation into law that criminalizes “aggravated homosexuality” and introduces a life sentence for some homosexual acts.

The anti-homosexuality law will fuel hostility against gays and lesbians in the country, and its “vague and imprecise” provisions risk being used to arrest anyone suspected of being gay, according to Amnesty International.

Source: Bloomberg