REUTERS
Bongani Hans and Sapa-AFP
Addis Ababa
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in an unusually outspoken declaration, told African leaders yesterday that they must respect gay rights, a controversial issue on the continent.
“One form of discrimination ignored or even sanctioned by many states for too long has been discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Ban said at an AU summit in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.
“It prompted governments to treat people as second-class citizens or even criminals,” he added.
There was no immediate response from African heads of states to the speech.
Many African countries outlaw homosexuality and many African churches preach against it.
Ban was speaking as the Durban Lesbian and Gay Community expressed disappointment at Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s failure at the weekend to clear the air over homophobic comments he allegedly made a week ago.
Following a week of controversy and counterclaims over what the king had said at a commemoration of the Battle of Isandlanwa, journalists were invited to the South Coast at the weekend, ostensibly to hear the king discuss the matter.
While the king was at St Faiths Mission, outside High Flats, to install a new traditional leader, the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs department informed journalists that the king would also use the opportunity “to brief the media and take questions on the issue that has been in the news on homosexuality”.
However, the king never said a word on the matter.
Co-operative Governance Department spokesman Vernon Mchunu said he had been advised not to talk about the issue.
Another department spokesman, Lennox Mabaso, said the media statement suggesting that the king would brief the media on the issue had been written by a junior communications officer without approval. He said the king had no reason to clarify a statement he had not made.
“This junior officer sent the statement because of pressure from journalists who wanted to cover up their error. I later issued another statement correcting the mistake,” he said.
Durban Lesbian and Gay Community director Nonhlanhla Mkhize said her organisation still wanted to meet the king or a representative of the Zulu royal house to discuss the alleged remarks.
SA is the only African country that recognises gay rights and same-sex marriage. Previous criticism of restrictions imposed on homosexuals has attracted angry responses from African leaders, who claim it is alien to their culture.
After Commonwealth leaders refused to adopt reforms to abolish homophobic laws in 41 member nations, British Prime Minister David Cameron said last year he would consider withholding aid from countries that did not recognise gay rights.
Outgoing AU chairman Tedoro Obiang Nguema, speaking before Ban, complained about the external criticism the continent received.
“Africa should not be questioned with regards to democracy, human rights, governance and transparency in public administration,” he said.
“Confronting these discriminations is a challenge, but we must not give up on the ideas of the universal declaration of human rights,” Ban said.
Gay rights in Africa, most notably in Uganda, made the news on several occasions last year. Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but a controversial bill that calls for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts was reintroduced in the Kampala parliament last year.
The proposed legislation envisages tougher punishments – including the death penalty – for anyone caught engaging in homosexual acts for the second time, as well as for gay sex where one partner is a minor or is HIV-positive.
Gay rights activists have blamed an increase in homophobia in Uganda on evangelical preachers, some of whom are close to the regime of President Yoweri Museveni. 8P2
